


Framed

by PwoperNinjaElf



Series: Framed [1]
Category: Muse, Music RPF
Genre: AU, Angst, Belldom - Freeform, Bullying, Fluff, M/M, Smut, teen!muse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-12 05:58:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 43,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PwoperNinjaElf/pseuds/PwoperNinjaElf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dom finally has everything he's ever wanted, but after a little incident with a certain dark haired boy, things start to change and go horribly wrong for him. Soon his life's turned upside down when he's framed for something he never did; now the only person who'll talk to him is that same someone who he'd ignored.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Starts off tame enough...but don't be fooled.

  
  
Ice blue blazing. Burning in the back of his head.  
  
Dominic turned to see who he'd already guessed to be staring at him. His breath caught in his throat. Such a blue intensity digging into him, boring right through him. He quickly turned away again; unable to hold his gaze.  
  
 _Such anger._  
  
Dom looked back up to see that the ice-blue gaze was no longer focused on him. _He_ was no longer in the hall.  
  
"...so basically yeah, that's about it. What you think Dommy?"  
  
Dominic looked back at Rachel; her brown eyes warm and smiling up at him, her hand still resting on his arm. "Uh, yeah...sounds good..." he replied lamely, still a bit shook up.  
  
"Oh brilliant!!! So I'm thinking of wearing something pink; so you're obviously gonna have..."  
  
Why should he feel so guilty that he was to blame for the look in those eyes? The anger and...  
  
No. He'd done the right thing. It had been wrong. He'd fixed it; he could just move on now, right?  
  
"Dommy?! Earth to Dominic!! Are you even listening to me?!" Rachel's mouth had gone into a hard line and her arms were crossed over her chest.  
  
"Oh, uh, yes. Yes, of course I am, Babe," he quickly replied, giving her bum a quick squeeze. Her mouth quickly curving back into her trademark perfect smile.  
  
He couldn't be worrying about that nonsense. He had to focus on his goal. On where he'd finally managed to be. On who he'd finally managed to be with. He couldn't go backwards, he had to keep going forwards. He had to forget his old rekindled friendship. His childhood friend. His hook up.  
  
Hook up. Could he really call it- what happened- that?  
  
No. It hadn't even been that. It had been nothing. He didn't do things like that. That, that was not who he was. That, what happened, had just been a result of taking way too many mushrooms when he'd already known he'd reached his limit.  
  
He'd been high off his face. For all he knew he'd just imagined and made up most of it... Did _He_ even remember what had happened? Surely not, he'd been just as wasted.  
  
Dom had definitely done the right thing by leaving, _He_ was probably just pissed off that Dom had left with out so much as a wave goodbye the second he'd sobered up. Maybe he was angry that Dom had taken so much of his stash...  
  
Whatever the case was, he had nothing to feel bad about, nothing except about what he'd done. What they'd done. That hadn't been him. Dominic Howard did NOT do things like that.  
  
He was not gay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah sorry, first few chapters are short...this was my first fic so yeah...but they get longer!

Matthew looked back at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. His pale, skinny features staring back at him, looking lost and alone.  
  
So, it really was gonna be like that...  
  
After everything?  
  
He'd thought at first (hoped) that Dominic had just been in a hurry to get home and away from the muddy festival field camping. That he wasn't just trying to run away from him. Or from himself.  
  
He'd tried not to get upset at first. Dominic wasn't as open as he was. He actually cared about what people thought, but he couldn't help but feel a twang and ache inside. And then, to see Dom come back to school and act like nothing happened, to just ignore him the past few weeks. To act like he didn't exist. Like he was as good as thin air. To just stand there and play the dutiful boyfriend to that slapper, Rachel, after everything he'd done. After everything they'd done.  
  
Matt let out a deep sigh and pushed back some of his, practically shoulder length, dark hair behind his right ear. It was time he got over himself. Sitting back, lurking in the corners; the way he'd done for so long- for too long- was doing no one a favour.  
  
He turned the tap on and put his hands in the stream of cold water, before splashing his face with it. He needed to stop getting so worked up! He had to stop being so pathetic and feeling sorry for himself! He splashed his reflection with the water in anger.  
  
His blue eyes looking hard and cold even to himself now. He was sick of it. Sick of it all.  
  
How could Dom go on pretending nothing had happened? He felt forever changed. His mind had been opened and he knew he'd become different. Sure he'd had other, sexual experiences, but with Dom...it had been different. Very different.  
  
He hadn't particularly planned or expected anything to come of their wild trippy weekend. Yet he'd expected a lot more than this. Than this nothingness; Dom's constant denial and manor of ignoring him at any opportunity.  
  
How could he possibly just go on, living the way he had before? The only thing that he'd changed since was to cut his beautiful, long, blonde hair...as if having hair similar to Matt was wrong. To Matt it felt like it was Dom's way of trying to separate himself from the person he'd been that weekend. As if the mere style of his hair could change what had happened.  
  
'Well fuck this,' Matt thought, still glaring at himself.  
  
If Dom was going to be like this, perhaps it meant that Matt should be the one to make the first move. Maybe- Matt couldn't help hoping- Dom was still just too nervous about it all? Who knows, perhaps he couldn't even remember anything.  
  
Matthew couldn't help smiling to himself as he remembered just how wasted they'd been. Maybe all that needed to happen was for Matt to finally man up and for once be the one to say something first. He couldn't always just hope someone else would do it for him.  
  
Who knows: Dom could have been waiting for him to say something all along?


	3. Chapter 3

Matthew snuck into the english class late, everyone looking up from their task work to see his attempt at an apology to the teacher as he went to sit down, as quietly as possible, in his place near the side of the classroom.  
  
"God, what a loser. What do you suppose took him so long?" Andy whispered with a smirk to Dominic. Dom just grunted and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.  
  
"I hear he's quite the experimenter; if you know what I mean," Morgan whispered on Dom's other side, joining in the conversation. Their task work long forgotten.  
  
"Really?" Andy asked with a raised eyebrow and looked over at Matt who was hunched over his work, a curtain of dark hair hiding his face.  
  
"Yip, word is- now get this- he swings both ways," Morgan, barely managing to keep to a whisper, said with a nasty smirk.  
  
"Shut up!" Rachel said spinning in her seat when she'd overheard the boys' conversation. Dom shifted some more in his seat, Rachel's small outburst in front of him making his insides squirm.  
  
"Shhh! Go back to your work!" The teacher grumbled, not even bothering to look up from the textbook she was paging through. The group of four just huddled closer. Well the three did. With Dom in the middle,e he had no way of escaping the conversation he most certainly did not want to be a part of. He'd never been a fan of gossip, and this was definitely not the gossip he wanted to hear.  
  
"Yeah, I'm not lying. Have you lot honestly never heard this?" Morgan asked looking around at the three others.  
  
"Seriously though?" Rachel asked, managing to keep to a whisper this time. "Where does he even find someone- let alone a variety of someones from both sexes?!"  
  
"Hey, I don't know. Though from what I've heard there haven't exactly been any complaints..." Morgan shrugged.  
  
"But ew..." Rachel shook her head. "Why would anyone want to...ew." Andy and Morgan laughed at the disgusted face she pulled, before she too shortly joined suit. None noticing the unusual silence from Dom.  
  
"I mean there's nothing there. He's just so scrawny; skin and bones..." She continued the three still trying to stifle giggles.  
  
"I'm hardly big, and I'm pretty skinny too." Dom couldn't help saying. He didn't know why, but he didn't like them talking shit about Matthew.  
  
But why should he care what they thought though? He didn't care about Matthew. What did it matter if they wanted to slag him off? Matt was a weirdo...but...but it just didn't feel right to him. To just sit there and let them insult him.  
  
"Yeah, but you're not as small...also you're big where it counts," Rachel said with a suggestive smile and wiggle of her eyebrows.  
  
"Okay, okay, we honestly do not want to know!" Andy laughed putting his hands out. "Definitely not," Morgan agreed shaking his head.  
  
"Hey, what's true is true," Rachel laughed and reached over to stroke Dom's blushing cheek. "Why do you think I stick around?" She laughed, her foot coming up to rub against Dom's leg. He squirmed under her touch.  
  
"Anyways..." Andy said, trying to bring back the conversation. Strangely still curious as to what Matthew did in his spare time. Finding it interesting that the shy boy a few seats away led quite a different life to what one would expect.  
  
"Well, so yeah...he actually gets around I suppose..." Morgan said with a shrug, but his smirk had returned.  
  
"God, where does he find them?! Jeez, if he can get all this lot, why the hell am I stuck third wheeling it with you two?!" Andy complained shaking his head.  
  
"Haven't a clue..." Morgan laughed and looked over at Matt, who- unlike them- was still doing the work. "Just heard that around is all...Looking at him now, you wouldn't exactly guess it would you?"  
  
"Definitely not!" Rachel laughed. "He's such a, a...dork. I mean look at his oversized feet, let alone that ridiculous hair. " Her bitchy comment and laugh hitting Dom with surprising force.  
  
Sure he wanted nothing more to do with Matthew. But he'd done nothing since Reading. He hadn't told a soul about anything, he hadn't even approached Dom to ask him why he'd just left. And hadn't Dom had similar hair not too long ago? In fact his had been longer! Rachel hadn't ever said anything about his hair...but then...how did he know she hadn't said so behind his back? If there was something she loved to do it was to gossip.  
  
Everyone in town just seemed to love it. Gossips. He was surrounded by them. The entire town was crowded...  
  
Such a cliche.  
  
He hated gossiping. He hated this. He hated that they all just seemed to get off on it. He just couldn't.  
  
"Oh come on! Just leave the kid alone! It's not like any of us even really know-"  
  
"Mr Howard! Do keep your voice down and return to your work!! Do. Not. Make. Me. Ask. You. Again!! That goes for you three too!!" The teacher said, having finally taken all she could bare, and snapped her textbook shut. Deciding to do her lesson plans later. Clearly she had to keep an eye on this lot.  
  
Before moving back to their work, the others all looked at Dom with raised eyebrows, shocked by his little outburst. He pretended not to notice, keeping his eyes on his work as he mumbled an apology.


	4. Chapter 4

"Dom! Dom!"  
  
Dominic turned to see who was calling his name and nearly froze when he saw who it was.  
  
 _Keep walking. Keep walking._  
  
He turned back and tried to pick up the pace. Why did he want to speak to him?! Dom nervously looked around. the hallway was thankfully emptying, everyone else beginning to fill into their respective classrooms.  
  
He on the other hand had a free.  
  
How did Matthew know where to find him? And why was he speaking to him, after all this time?! Didn't _he_ have a class to attend now?!  
  
"Dom! Wait up!! Dominic!!"  
  
 _Fine. He's clearly not gonna leave me alone. Breathe. Let him speak, then you can bolt._  
  
Dom stopped and stood still. Matt finally reaching the fleeing blonde.  
  
"Thank God, jeez I'm unfit! Don't think I could've kept up for much longer," Matt said, now bent over, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Dom just looked down at him with big eyes.  
  
"What? What is it Matt?! What do you want?!!" His voice coming out annoyingly panicked. Matt looked up at him, finally straightening out.  
  
"I-I just wanted to-"  
  
"No, not here! Come, let's go somewhere more private!" Dom said, grabbing Matt's arm and dragging him towards the exit.  
  
"Ooh, so eager are we?" Matt said with a smirk, trying to break the tension. Dom just narrowed his eyes more, his mouth forming an even straighter line. "Shut up!" Was all he said as he led him out into the light drizzle, toward the football grounds.  
  
"Hey relax," Matt said rubbing his arm where Dom's hand had been, Dom finally having let go of him. "I just wanted to say thank you."  
  
Dom looked at him, his eyes still in their hard, narrowed state. "For what?!" he demanded.  
  
"For sticking up for me..." Matt said, his voice less cocky now, as he looked down at his black trainers.  
  
"Wh-what are you talking about?!" Dom asked confusion entering his still narrowed eyes.  
  
"Back there in class; I heard what they were saying..." Matt mumbled, still looking down at his trainers, before looking up at Dom. Waiting for his response.  
  
"Um, uh...what do you mean? You were sitting near the front and working..." Dom replied, scratching the back of his neck nervously.  
  
"Come on Dom, I think practically everyone heard what they were saying...Whispering clearly not being their strong point- or yours." Matt let a small smile creep onto his lips.  
  
"Um, uh, they, uh...yeah... I'm sorry." Matt smiled a bit more. Despite everything Dom couldn't help being a good guy. Dom had stood up for him, when all his friends were talking shit about him, he hadn't joined in. He'd told them to stop.  
  
Matt felt himself subconsciously leaning into Dom, both only mere centimeters apart. "It's okay."  
  
Dom could practically feel Matt's warm breath caress the skin on his face when he'd spoken. A small tingle worked down his body. He could already see what he knew was going to happen; but instead of turning away and leaving, like he knew he should, he felt himself frozen on the spot.  
  
His mind willed himself to get the hell out of there, but his body held firm and true.  
  
Their lips met in a soft kiss, souly driven by Matt. The slightly smaller boy unable to stop himself.  
  
Memories that Dom had tried hiding, and denying he'd even had, came flooding back. The still surprisingly soft feel of Matt's lips on his own; all that was needed to unleash the floodgates.  
  
 _Smooth, impossibly soft skin sliding against his own. The feel of long fingers gripping his hair back as their mouths crashed together in desperate gasps for each other's breath. His warmth radiating all over. Radiating inside..._  
  
Dominic shoved Matthew back hard, sending him crashing to the ground. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!" he yelled, spiting at the ground before scraping at his mouth with his sweater's sleeve.  
  
"But Dom, I-I just wanted to-"  
  
"I don't know what the fuck's wrong with you! But they're right! You are a freak! Leave me the fuck alone!!!" Dom interrupted Matt as the taken-aback boy scrambled back to his feet, wiping at his now muddied oversized jeans.  
  
Dom couldn't help but take in the sight of him brushing behind himself, trying to clean his muddied backside. He also couldn't help feeling an ache inside himself that followed in response. Something he did not want to feel.  
  
 _Impossibly blue eyes gazed up at him. Those long fingers running through his long blonde hair. The feel of the heat of his skin lying down on his own. The taste of those hot kisses on his already swollen lips. The way he felt..._  
  
Before Matt could let out another word Dom quickly spun around and started to stalk off. Before remembering something else.  
  
"And whatever you do, don't you dare tell anyone about anything: any of this- or that stuff at Reading! 'Cause if you do...I can promise you'll fucking regret it!! Now don't you ever speak to me again! You-you...faggot!"


	5. Chapter 5

  
Matthew watched Dominic until he disappeared back inside the school building, the blonde boy refusing to turn around again to acknowledge what he'd just said. Matt let out a deep sigh and wiped at his muddy jeans.  
  
Why did Dom have to be like this? Ok, sure he'd just gone and kissed him- clearly catching him off guard. But had it really been necessary for Dom to react like that?  
  
He'd felt the initial hesitation from Dom, there was no denying that brief period of time when their lips had joined. Warm, hazy memories resurfacing, hotter and clearer in Matt's mind. That reunited touch bringing so much back. So much that he'd been unable to properly remember.  
  
But then Dom had snapped, bringing it all crashing down around them, as well as Matt. That hard contact with the earth had hurt surprisingly, the shock doing nothing to help it. Though that small bit of physical pain did nothing compared to the words he'd been assaulted with too.  
  
 _Faggot._  
  
Matt winced. That didn't even sound like Dom. The sweet, shy, self-conscious kid he'd been friends with so long ago, and then had reunited with when they'd bumped into each other at the music festival about a month back.  
  
The rain around Matt seemed to start falling harder. He glared up at the menacing dark clouds, rain falling at an ever increasing pace. He felt like screaming at them. What a fucking cliché.  
  
Fuck. He hated this stupid little town. He hated the small minded people here. He hated his school. The way he'd never fitted in here. He hated it all. He hated his excuse for a home life. He even felt he was starting to hate his own life.  
  
That aching feeling he was becoming all too familiar with, soft and seaping, began to wash over him. Creeping inside of him, lingering in his chest, twisting and pulling at him.  
  
He wiped furiously at the liquid running down his cheeks with his sleeves, assuring himself that it was just the rain.  
  
He began walking. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but he knew he couldn't just go back to class. Back to all those morons. Back to the chance he may run into Dom again. He couldn't face that all right now.  
  
He wiped one last time before shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. The rain was freezing cold and he could feel himself starting to shiver, but he didn't care. He kept walking through the miserable downpour,  determined to leave as much distance between the school buildings and himself as he could. Deciding to pick up the pace when he could feel the water seeping all the way through his clothes. He'd left his bag and his warm waterproof jacket inside, all in his rush to catch up with Dom.  
  
 _Dominic._  
  
. . .  
  
  
"Where have you been?" Rachel asked Dom when he snuck back, late for his art class.  
  
"Um, uh, just went to, uh, the bathroom...Why?" He asked, trying his best to sound calm.  
  
His heart was still racing and his mind was still swimming with all those drug-induced memories. He was never doing mushrooms again. He would never do any of that again.  
  
"Okaaay..." she said raising an eyebrow. Dom had been acting strangely for awhile now...at first she'd thought it was just with her, but she'd spoken to Andy and Morgan who'd said he was the same with them. And when she asked him about it he'd just shot her down and change the subject.  
  
Dom, having managed to take out all his art supplies, was setting up his easel. Today was a paint prac lesson, his favourite, and he'd arrived late. Why couldn't it have been a theory day?  
  
"So Dommy... I was thinking...you know my parents have gone for the week to Bristol for some or other wedding of an old school friend?" Rachel said, ignoring her own, barely touched artwork. She'd only taken art of course because she'd known Dom was taking it.  
  
"Um, yeah?" he said, his focus still scrambled from what had happened on the football fields, and now having to juggle between painting and listening to Rachel.  
  
"Well...come on Dom, surely you've thought of it too? Why don't you come over, you know, after school?" He felt her hand slip to his thigh, grabbing his attention away from his work. He was still a bit on edge after the little incident and her hand was doing nothing to help calm himself down there.  
  
"Uh, Rach-"  
  
"Dom, let's not joke, I can _see_ you want to," she said with a pointed look at his crotch. He promptly folded his left leg.  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Dom."  
  
Maybe that's just what he needed. He needed to remind himself. To fix his stupid, malfunctioning body. He was just confused, that's all.  
  
"Ok, sure. I'd love to," he finally replied. The smiled response she gave helping to ease some of his worries. It would all be fine. This was exactly what he needed he thought, as her sneaky hand began to slide up more along his folded thigh.  
  
"Rachel, people will see!" he whispered in a hiss. She just smiled and gave him a wink before finally returning to her work.  
  
. . .  
  
  
"Where have you been Matthew?! It's been dark for hours!!"  
  
Matthew just shrugged and continued his slow, foot dragging walk up the stairs.  
  
"Don't just ignore me Boy!"  
  
"I was walking," was all he said before he disappeared into his room with a tired _click_ of the door behind him.  
  
"Well you missed tea! So if you want to eat you're going to have to make something for yourself!" his gran said still calling after him. He knew she'd just been worried about him, but her harsh tone was the last thing he needed at that point.  
  
Matt kicked off his worn shoes and flopped onto his bed. He felt so tired, tired beyond the ache in his feet from having walked for hours.  
  
He'd hoped the little walk would clear his head, and clear the awful feeling he had wrapping around his insides. But despite having walked until he could no more, he still felt the same. His chest feeling like someone had kicked him square and centre, all the warmth inside having deflated.  
  
Maybe he would tell his nan that he wasn't feeling well, maybe manage to wrangle a few days off school. That's what he needed. He just needed a break.  
  
He'd needed one for awhile now, he'd been silly to just ignore it, and even more stupid to have gone up to Dom and expect him to not freak out.  
  
Dom, he knew, was actually a good person- despite what he'd said- he just had one big flaw.  
  
Dominic cared too much about what other's thought.  
  
. . .  
  
  
"OH MY FUCKING- DOM!!- Ungh!!"  
  
God, Rachel had always been such a screamer, Dom thought as he felt her nails digging into his back as she climaxed, him quickly following suit.  
  
He fell back on her, his heart still racing but his mind blank, as the two tried to catch their breath.  
  
It was always just so mechanical. Nothing new or different. He'd been dying for ages to ask to spice it up a bit more, but was too worried with how she'd react.  
  
Every now and again he'd hint at certain ideas or suggestions, but she'd always just laugh it off  and give him a kiss or something. Her just thinking he was joking and not wanting to come out looking silly for falling for it, and him too worried and self-conscious to back it all up.  
  
"God Dom, that was just so, so...Mmmm..." she sighed deeply, her hand resting on his chest as he rolled over to lie next to her.  
  
He looked over at her, her breasts rising and falling with each breath, but felt nothing. What was wrong with him?! He loved boobs! Why didn't he feel that crazy rush now as he looked over at her? He always used to...  
  
He loved the feeling of her soft skin, the delicious curve of her hips and the softness of her boobs when he groped her- fitting perfectly into his open  hands... The taste of her full lips and the smell of her perfume rich skin and berry scented hair. The way their bodies just seemed to perfectly fit together, so natural and comfortable.  
  
He loved it all, he really did, but why was his mind playing games with him still?! He'd managed to suppress it for so long! So long, until that arse had gone and forced himself on him today!  
  
Instead of enjoying all those beautiful soft curves and sweet smells he'd found himself craving something completely different. Some _one_ completely different.  
  
This was sweet and all, but where was that something else? That extra something special.  
  
Flash backs of silky heated skin slick against his own. Less soft flesh, but rather more fine muscles, wormed their way into his head. Long fingers dragging down his back instead of perfectly manicured petite ones. Deeper grunts and moans instead of Rachel's hysterical screams and overused words of encouragement.  
  
Harder, faster and more exciting.  
  
"Wanna go again? I was thinking we could try something different for a change..." he said propping himself up on his elbow to look down at her, her long light brown hair tied up "so it didn't get too sweaty or messed up".  
  
"I don't know Dommy, I feel exhausted after that! God, twice is enough for now!" she laughed and stroked his, now messy, blonde hair. "I'm so glad you cut this- I never wanted to say anything before, but it really was kinda silly looking...argh almost like that loser, Matthew's."  
  
He squirmed a bit, the mention of Matt's name alone causing his treacherous body to get even more excited all over again. A name coming into play with all the resurfaced flashbacks.  
  
 _Boobs? No. The mere hint of his name? Yes. What the fuck is happening here?!_  
  
"I didn't think it looked too bad..." he mumbled, but she just laughed some more before starting to get up.  
  
"Where you going?" he asked confused, sitting up a bit as she stretched a hand out to quickly grab her gown and covered up.  
  
That was Rachel, she'd take him like a right slut, but would cover up as soon as she could afterwards- unwanted modesty showing up to spoil the moment as usual. She was always so self-conscious about her body, when she really had nothing to be self-conscious about.  
  
"I'm gonna go take a quick shower, I hate feeling all sweaty and gross," she replied with a shrug and gave him a quick peck before slinking off to the adjoining bathroom.  
  
Clearly he wasn't gonna get any help this time round, he thought with a heavy sigh, falling back into the pillows.  
  



	6. Chapter 6

  
In the end Matthew had managed to get two "sick days" out of his gran, but his time had run out and he was back to walking down the halls of the bane of his existence.

And, no matter how he tried to deny or ignore it, he could feel the increased amount of stares and looks he was receiving as he went through the day. Definitely far more than he was used to receiving.

In english, the only class he shared with Dom that day, the class he'd been dreading most, it all just seemed to be magnified even more. He'd braved one glance at Dom, but as expected hadn't even received the barest of an acknowledgment.

He felt wretched.

He wasn't used to all this attention. The sight of people whispering when they thought he wasn't looking, or the raising of eyebrows as their eyes fell on him in recognition.

He felt confused and bewildered. What was with all the sudden interest? No one had ever bothered to give him a second glance, but now everyone he passed seemed to do a double take. Some sneering or turning away as if in disgust, others even down right laughing!

Though, even stranger, were the other looks and glances he'd receive. Both boys and girls shyly glancing his way, smiling at him or even giving him a wink!

He felt left out. Everyone seemed to be in on something. Everyone but him. What was going on?

After being slammed into a wall by a particularly nasty group of boys he couldn't take any more. He ran straight for the nearest bathroom. He needed to be alone, needed to get away from all those stares. To get away from all the unwanted attention.  
He was sure he'd even begun to hear a few cat calls and whistles.

_What the fuck is happening?! What's going on?!_

He needed to get away from it all. He needed to-

"I hear you like to switch it up, but this _is_ the girl's bathroom you know."

He looked up from the streaming tap before him, his hands shooting out the water in shock as he spun around to see who'd spoken.

It was a girl with long, messy hair, dyed numerous colours ranging from pink to light blue, all messed up in what he assumed was her natural blonde.

"Um, I, uh, I...sorry?" he replied, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. What was she talking about? Aside from the fact he'd accidentally gone into the wrong loo in his desperate attempt to escape all the prying eyes.

"The bathroom? It has the universal symbol for "women" on it..." she replied trying to hold back a giggle at his confusion.

"Um...I realise that," he replied rather lamely. "I meant about, uh, the other thing...?"

"What, that you like to switch it up?" she asked with an amused expression and a raised eyebrow. Her pretty hazel eyes twinkling a bit as she smirked at the confused boy.

"Um, uh, what exactly do you mean by that?" He could feel his heart rate speeding up. She couldn't possibly mean...

"That I know about you swinging both ways?" She asked, now also confused. "At least that's what the word around school is..."

_The word around school?!_

She noticed his eyes widen, and then fall with what seemed to look like realisation.

"So that's what all the looks have been about..." she heard him mutter, more to himself.

"So, is it true?" She'd never been one to sit back, she'd always been damn curious, and hell; if you didn't ask how would you know for sure?

"Um, uh." He still felt completely stunned. This hadn't at all been what he'd wanted to happen. How did they all know? And why was everyone even making such a big deal about it? Who cared what he was into? No one had ever cared about whatever else he'd liked before, so why now. Why this?

"So?" she continued to persist. He looked into her eyes again. Warm, yet curious. No judging. No hint of malice. Well what was the point in denying it now? If everyone already had the idea planted in their heads, their opinions about him had already been cemented. There really was no point denying.

"Um, yes." There he'd said it. He'd admitted it. He'd confirmed what was now known to be floating in the gossiping groups of his school, and to someone he didn't even know too!

"Really?!" she asked. Her voice rising with excitement and ever more interest.

It was no secret that the town and it's people loved a good bit of gossip, especially its younger members of the community. Not much happened in the tiny town, so they had to find all sorts of ways of entertainment. Leading to yet more juicy gossip material, but this; this was something new and exciting and Julia would be damned if she had to miss out.

"Ahuh," he confirmed again, feeling a bit of warmth run through him. He had nothing to be ashamed about, and screw everyone who thought otherwise. But he still didn't know one thing. "Um, how did you know though? I mean...how did this all start going around?"

"Well...I'm not exactly 100% sure...but from what I heard it started from Morgan...yeah I think that's right. He heard it from someone he knows that goes to Western Hill..."

"Oh."

Damn. He'd known he should be more careful, but when Tom had asked him to go to an exclusive party of a friend he and Chris knew from Western Hill he hadn't been able to decline. He'd wanted to know how the "other side" partied, and boy had he not been disappointed.

Matt didn't go out much, and considering the only two friends he had didn't even go to his school it meant that when the trio did ever manage to hang out they always tended to go overboard. Only with them did he truly break out of his shell.

_With them and Dominic._

The thought sent a pang of pain straight through him. Dominic. Well if anything, this whole Western Hill element proved that at least Dom wasn't behind it. Not entirely at least. But then why should that come as a surprise? Of course Dom wouldn't want to risk having his own quirks aired out in public too.

"Wow..." He looked back at the girl, reminded that him and his thoughts weren't alone.

"Um..."

"I think that's pretty cool." Her face lit up with another sunny smile, flashing him with her perfect teeth once more.

"What, that he spread a rumor based on what he supposedly heard from someone else?" Matt asked, this time his turn to lift an eyebrow.

"No, silly," she laughed. "That you're bi." He felt her hand slide to his arm.

"Okaaay..." He didn't exactly know how to respond to this. This was definitely something new. He'd also never really considered it all properly before this. The word "bi" sounded strangely new to him.

He'd never exactly defined what he was before this. He'd always liked girls, and as he'd grown older he'd started to take a little interest in certain guys too. He'd also acted on both impulses, just without much thought to what he was doing. It had all seemed perfectly natural to him at the time.

He looked down at her hand again. It was still rested on his forearm. "Ahem."

"Oh sorry," she blushed and quickly removed her hand. "You probably don't even know who I am!" She laughed  
brightly before sticking her hand out towards him this time. "I'm Julia."

 

. . .

 

Dominic turned in his seat at his group's usual table in the cafeteria. As much as he'd tried to ignore it, he couldn't help noticing Matthew's absence for a few days from school last week. The couple of days after their little...incident.

He'd hated himself for it, but he couldn't seem to get the skinny, dark haired boy from his thoughts. Especially when he was alone. When he was lying in the dark on his bed, away from all the distractions that his friends and school provided him with.

Left alone with nothing but all the newly found memories of his time at Reading. None of course of the actual concerts he'd attended.

The soft comfort of his bed, a stark contrast from what he'd called his bed then, yet still did nothing but help aid in his mind's merciless onslaught.

It puzzled him that it should all, only now, start having such an impact on him. How come he'd managed so easily to return from Reading and push everything away. Yet now, after only one lousy, unwanted kiss, it took all he could do to distract himself from all the constant reminders.

He could see Matt now though, sitting off to a corner, and, to Dom's amazement, was not alone.

Morgan's whole little account of how Matt "liked it both ways" had mysteriously spread- as so many stories do- around school in no time at all. And to his friend's (as well as his own) horror it had backfired quite a bit amoung some of the student population. Though as expected most had been appalled. Just the other outcasts and some of the other oddballs around seemed to now be more drawn to the seemingly quiet boy.

"Can you believe that? I mean how sad do they look?" Rachel said with a roll of her eyes as she took in where Dom was looking. Matt had his back to a small group of girls, and even a guy or too, that were all sitting as close as they could to him at the lunch table.

"It's bizarre, I still just can't seem to get over it. Why would they..." Andy sighed shaking his head in agreement.

"Maybe they're all just curious?" Morgan suggested with a shrug. "He's something new to them. Let's not forget, not much exciting happens here after all."

Dom shifted around uneasily as he turned his back to the fawning admirers and the object of their (and frustratingly his) interest.

 

. . .

 

"Hmmm...ummm...annngghhh" Matt looked down again on a particularly enthusiastic suck, and then quickly around them to make sure they were still alone.  
   
"Relax Matt," Julia said, releasing his cock to quickly give him a reassuring, although sneaky, smile. "Trust me, no one will see, just relax..." He felt her take him into her mouth again and couldn't help letting a small groan escape his lips. She moved one of her hands from where she was holding his pants down, enough to allow her access, and moved it to grope his backside. His hips involuntarily jolted forward.

"God, Julia..." He couldn't believe he'd actually finally given in and let her have her way with him. She'd been bugging him since they'd ran into each other the end of last week. Her hints and suggestions getting less subtle all the while.

She hadn't been the only one surprisingly enough. It was bizarre; all this sudden interest in him. Sure he'd managed to score in the past, but never with anyone from his school, and he'd always had Tom or Chris around to help initiate things.

Until now he'd kept his distance and turned them all down. Make no mistake, it wasn't that he wasn't flattered or that he didn't fancy the looks of some. It was just that niggling at the back of his mind.

Then today, while he was bunking off his english class (for obvious reasons) in the deserted library, hoping to maybe read something from one of his favourite poets, he'd realised he was indeed not alone. Julia, also having decided to bunk off from whatever class she was supposed to be in, had instead favoured to rather follow the slinky figure that had caught her eye on the way to class.

She'd then of course made her move, not taking no for an answer, and was pleasantly surprised when he'd given in easily enough.

He watched as he disappeared and slowly reappeared, only to disappear again into her rosy lips. The sight mixed with the sensation made him shudder again.

It felt strange. The last person who'd done that... No he couldn't think about him. Not now. Screw Dom. Fuck him in fact. He didn't deserve to take place in his mind at a time like this.

 

. . .

 

On his way to english Dom had decide to rather opt for a more private hour to spend his time. Unable to bear looking at Matt anymore, just thinking about his name now helped trigger the flashes.

He shuddered. No, he couldn't handle that right now. His body was falling apart right in front of him and he could do nothing. He felt so helpless, and ashamed. What was wrong with him?

This, all of this, was wrong. Just wrong.

As he made his way deeper into what he'd hoped would be a small safe haven, he heard a sudden intake of breath.

Dom looked around, confused, he was sure the place was empty during classes. Mrs Hammond, the librarian, taught class herself, doubling as one of the history teachers too. So it couldn't have been her...

He heard it again. A desperate, panted gasp. A gasp that hit him immediately, going straight to his groin. Okaaaay, what really was going on?!

He walked quicker, towards where he thought he'd heard the noise coming from. Why did it sound so familiar? With a brief glance down he could see his body definitely felt it had heard it before too.

_Shit._ This seemed to happen to him all the time lately. Not that he hadn't gotten easily excited in the past, but still. Curiosity still tugging him forward, he continued to make his way over. Only halting at a nearby bookshelf when he heard it again.

_This is wrong. What are you even doing Dom? Turn around. Turn around now!_

With yet another, but more staggered gasp and a familiar voice gasping out "God, Julia" Dom couldn't take it anymore and peeked through the gaps between the books. Instantly regretting it the moment his eyes fell on the sight before him.

Matt was leaning into the next row of bookshelves, his head rolled back and his hands gripping onto a head of messy colourful hair. A head that was bobbing just in front of his crotch area.

A pang went straight through Dom. Confusion. Mixed in with anger and hurt, and shame. More confusion. Confusion that just spiked when he realised where his own hand had wondered.

What the fuck was wrong with him? What the fuck was happening to him...

"Arghhh, so...so..."

He looked up just in time to see Matt's eyes roll back and hear the giggled sound coming from the girl as she finished with one last agonizingly long "slurp".

"Fuck," Matt rasped when his eyes finally started focusing again. Dom felt the twang again.

"Told you, you'd enjoy it. Bet you wished you'd just given in sooner," she said as Dom heard the sound of Matt's zipper go up.

"Fuck, yes. I don't know what I was thinking-" His response was cut off though when the girl stood up and silenced him with her lips.

"Fucking whore," Dom was shocked to hear himself mutter. He quickly looked up again to make sure they hadn't heard, but the two were oblivious as their heated snogging began to intensify.

Realising he'd been staring way too long, Dom quickly made his exit. It was official: he was a full blown freak. How could he just sit there watching them, touching himself? He felt dirty.

He wasn't a pervert. He really wasn't. What was happening to him?


	7. Chapter 7

  
After that initial taste with Julia Matthew had started to have a little more fun. After all, why the fuck not?  
  
It all provided a good distraction from the real issues he desperately tried to shake off. That ever constant twist he felt inside whenever he passed Dominic in the halls.  
  
He tried his best to tell himself he was being ridiculous, but it didn't change the way it still hurt him.  
  
That word and those furious, hurtful eyes he'd been assaulted with still fresh in his mind...  
  
"Matty boy! Oi, are you even listening?" He looked up from his old, beat up guitar, that was resting in his lap, too see that Chris and Tom were staring at him.  
  
"Hmm?" They just laughed.  
  
"Your head still in the clouds? You've been like this since we all got back from Reading!" Chris laughed, putting down his bass guitar.  
  
"That douche still not talk to you yet?" Tom asked, moving closer to Matt.  
  
"Um...well..." Matt went onto tell them all about the past two weeks, both grunting and cursing Dom and chuckling at all the right places. Their kind words (and less kind one pointed at Dom) made him feel better. He loved that he could always tell them anything.  
  
Tom had after all been the first person he'd told about the first guy he'd ever kissed, a couple years back when he'd gone to stay with his dad in London for a bit. And instead of any of the numerously bad ways Matt had imagined he'd react, he'd just looked at him for awhile. Before shrugging and asking what it had been like.  
  
Chris too had handled it unexpectedly easily.  
  
  
 _"Seriously?!" Chris asked, trying his best to not let his jaw drop to the ground.  
  
"Yip. I did. And yes, I liked it." Matt's heart was racing. Chris was different from Tom, a little more traditional and a whole lot bigger than him. If he reacted badly...  
  
"But what about that Sarah girl I caught you with a few days back?" Chris asked staring down at the smaller boy.  
  
"Um, I still like girls, Chris? Trust me, I was enjoying myself then too," Matt replied scratching the back of his neck nervously.  
  
"Okaaaay..." Chris finally replied, trying to process the information. "This doesn't mean you're gonna start acting all weird around me now does it? 'Cause as much as I'm fine with whatever makes you happy, I just really don't swing that way..."  
  
Chris' answer had made Matt laugh as he finally let out the nervous breath he'd been holding.  
  
"Trust me Chris, you're safe."  
  
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"_  
  
  
"God, what an arsehole," Tom finally said once Matt had caught them up to date.  
  
"I can't believe he said that to you Matt," Chris said looking genuinely offended on Matt's behalf. "Why, if I'd been there!"  
  
"It's okay. I'm fine. Anyway, however this little rumor began I'm not complaining. Helps take the edge off," Matt said trying to reassure his friends. "If you know what I mean," he couldn't help adding when he saw their worried frowns hadn't faded.  
  
"Oh Matt, what are we gonna do with you!" Chris burst out laughing and ruffled Matt's long hair. While Matt tried to push his hands away Tom started tickling his exposed sides, making him burst into uncontrollable hysterics.  
  
God, why couldn't he see them more often? Why did they have to live in the next town over and not go to his school? They always knew how to make him laugh and feel better. The only two people who really knew him. Who really knew the real Matthew Bellamy.  
  
They'd all met in music classes, in the other boys' town. Matt's gran using the classes to try cheer him up after his parents had decided to finally separate and lead new lives. Lives that didn't have room for their sons to live with them. Paul had opted to rather get a new flat screen; that he'd ended up just putting a fist through, the result of a drunken rage caused by his football team losing.  
  
 Chris had attended because he came from a musical family and his uncle taught the classes. Tom on the other hand had been forced (at first) to go by his parents- hoping to get their son away from his videogames and computer, and knowing he wasn't interested in sport, had seen no other outlet.  
  
Either way the boys had all formed a close bond from the start. Only hindered by the fact that Matt lived in another town. And now that they were a little older they'd moved on from their weekly classes to band practice- an idea one of them had had a year back. Though they were still at early days...  
  
"So...do tell; how many have you managed to get off with?" Tom finally asked wiggling his eyebrows at Matt.  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Come on Bellamy, keep us entertained."  
  
"Oh Chrissy! Who knew you were so dirty?" Matt laughed as the bigger boy went bright pink.  
  
"I didn't mean it like that..." he muttered, making the other two laugh even more.  
  
. . .  
  
"Wow, someone's been over focused on my boobs lately," Rachel laughed as she grabbed her underwear and got dressed quickly. "Even more so then usual."  
  
Dom felt himself go pink. He couldn't help it. He was only trying to remind himself- get himself to focus- on all the things that she had that _he_ didn't. Soft and full, not flat and smooth. Nice and tanned, not pale and white. Gentle, delicate embrace, not the surprisingly strong one he found himself waking up in the middle of the night, craving around him.  
  
"Hey, not that I'm complaining," she continued to giggle, when she noticed his uncharacteristic silence.  
  
Dom just lay there, half under the sheets of her bed. Her parents were coming back the next day, so she'd insisted they used the last day to it's fullest.  
  
"What's the matter Dommy? You've been acting so strangely lately...is it something I've done?" She was a good girlfriend wasn't she? She gave him everything he wanted, didn't she?  
  
She'd even stayed with him after she'd heard about those rumors about him and Amanda Jenkins at a house party a couple months ago. After the ones about Susie Cartwrite too. Not to mention the other whispers she'd also caught in the past.  
  
"No, it's got nothing to do with anything you've done," he barely replied as he got up. Just as she'd gone to lie next to him again.  
  
He'd tried. Damn he'd tried. Often and with all he had, but he still felt off. The image of Matt getting head in the school library still burnt into his eyes. Ruining any chance of him truly getting off with Rachel.  
  
"Um, I'm gonna head home now."  
  
"But why don't you stay a little longer? We could watch a dvd or something?" He couldn't stand looking into those big, hopeful eyes. He felt awful. She deserved so much better. He was wrong, everything about him. He couldn't make her put up with this. The guilt refused to ebb and he snapped.  
  
"Look Rach, I-I, uh, I think we should just call it quits."  
  
She just stared at him, for a long quiet moment, without saying a word. He swallowed nervously waiting for her reply. And she didn't disappoint.  
  
"What?! What did you just say?! Sorry I must have #missheard# you. You didn't just try break up with me, surely not. That would be retarded."  
  
Awkward silence. Another swallow, followed by a deep inhale. "Um...I...look Rach, it's not you, it's-"  
  
"ARE YOU ACTUALLY FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?! DOMINIC HOWARD YOU DO NOT GET TO BREAK UP WITH ME!! I'm Rachel Hillcreast, not fucking Betty Donner- YOU do NOT get to say when it's over!!"  
  
"Look Rachel, I don't want to hurt you. Trust me, I'm doing this for you- not for me. I can't just keep stringing you along, I care too much about you. I..." He stopped when she collapsed on her bed, still only in her underwear, screaming and crying into her pillow.  
  
God if he thought he'd been panicking then it had nothing on how he felt now. He'd never been good at dealing with things like this.  
  
He quickly finished buttoning up his shirt and got the hell out of there. Feeling awful about running, but unable to do anything else but.  
  
He'd done the right thing breaking up with her...right? She didn't need him. Need his sickness. If anything he was sparing her from what he had no escape of.  
  
. . .  
  
"Oh God that was good."  
  
"Really?" Matt asked, propping himself up on his elbow to look down at Julia's blissed out expression.  
  
He'd fooled around and used his whole new status on campus to it's full advantage. Choosing to rather not disappoint. But of all his little hook ups Julia was hands down his favourite, and only repeat offense.  
  
"Definitely," she grinned up at him, before pulling him back down for a hot kiss. "Who knew the lost and found cupboard could be so much fun?"  
  
"You," he replied smiling into another steamy lip lock. It wasn't exactly the mouth he still so desperately wanted on his, but he definitely wasn't complaining.  
  
"Damn straight I did!!"  
  
"Shh, shhh, we don't wanna get caught now, after having managed to be so good just now," he laughed.  
  
"True, true..." she giggled too and ran her hand through his long hair again. "Hey, Matt."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"You ever thought of cutting this?"  
  
He sat up straighter. "Um, not really...why?"  
  
"I don't know, I just think you'd look even hotter if your face wasn't constantly hiding behind these dark curtains!"  
  
"Dark curtains?" he laughed. "Never really thought of my hair like that before!"  
  
"Haha, but it's true! I'd be totally willing to cut it! I'm pretty good with hair- I did do my own after all!" She shook out her colourful locks to prove her point.  
  
"Hmm...well..." She leaned over and kissed him again, her hand traveling down to his already hardening cock. "Well when you ask like that, how can I say no?"


	8. Chapter 8

The day had started off horribly for Dominic.  
  
Rachel had stood in a group of her girlfriends, all of whom sent Dom death glares and pointed whispers to each other, while trying to comfort the still clearly upset Rachel.  
  
He felt awful. Dom didn't like hurting people, and he felt wretched to know that he'd done that to her.  
  
In class everything he did seemed to be insufficient for whichever teacher was in charge, thus earning him even more homework. And when he'd gotten his maths paper back he was greeted with a mark he knew his father would undoubtedly punish him for.  
  
At lunch break he'd also then of course seen Matthew, flanked by that _girl_ , the two sitting in the corner laughing conspiratorially amongst themselves. He didn't like it one bit. For one, Matthew had always been a loner- at least since they'd drifted apart as kids- and then for him to be spending so much time with _her_? It mad Dom's blood boil. Of course this in turn, only led to yet more confusion.  
  
Dom felt lost, alone and completely confused.  
  
What were all these weird feelings, and where the hell had they come from?!  
  
So in the end he shouldn't have been surprised when he'd returned from his football practice (something he didn't particularly enjoy, but his father insisted he play-  though it also ended up being a convenient way to hang out with his friends), to find that his mobile was missing from his kit bag.  
  
He searched everywhere, tipping everything out and scouring through it all, but sadly with little luck. He retraced his steps, asked the office if they'd had a phone turned in. All turned up with nothing. Maybe- he hoped- he'd just left it somewhere at home all along.  
  
. . .  
  
  
"Oh my God, did you hear, Matty?" Julia asked Matt as soon as he arrived at school, his hoodie pulled firmly up over his head.  
  
He'd almost not answered and kept walking on, still angry about what she'd done to his hair. "No," he replied curtly, glaring at her.  
  
"Oh come on, Matty, surely you're not still angry? It looks fine; anyway there are _waaaay_ bigger things going on here, no one's gonna give a fuck about your new hairstyle- which by the way I still think is completely hot!" she said, making a grab for his hoodie, only to be battered away by his slender hands.  
  
That was the thing about Julia; she had no idea when to stop, blissfully ignorant to the troubles of others.  
  
"I look awful! it's completely ridiculous and skew- I should've kept it long!" he disagreed, still swatting away her teasing hands.  
  
"Oh, Matt, it just needs some time to grow out a little more...and black suits you so much!" she objected and pulled his struggling frame into a tight hug hello.  
  
His pale cheeks flushing a bit at the gesture. "It better, and...thanks." He couldn't stay too mad at her, she just had this permanent glow of happiness that was infectious. "So, what's this 'big news' anyway?"  
  
"Well...you're not gonna believe it but..."  
  
. . .  
  
"Whoa, look who's joined us at last!" Andy grinned at Dom as he made his way up to greet his friends before class.  
  
"Pretty brave to show your face, Mate. Those girls are looking for blood!" Morgan agreed.  
  
"Huh, what're you two going on about?" Dom asked, looking at his two best friends in confusion.  
  
"The photos, Mate; pretty ballsy move," Morgan answered. "And then to stick them up all over the school?!"  
  
"Lord knows I wouldn't even have had the heart to do it! Was rather dick, but still...you've got some nerve!" Andy laughed clapping Dom on the back.  
  
"Huh?" he asked, still completely lost.  
  
That is until Mr Walton, the headmaster- of all people, stormed up to him, pieces of paper in his hands.  
  
"DOMINIC JAMES HOWARD, WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS?!?!" he demanded and held up some of the pieces of paper.  
  
Dom's blood ran cold.  
  
In the furious man's hands were pictures, printed pictures, of Rachel. Pictures he'd managed awhile back to convince her to pose for when they'd both been wasted. Pictures which were most definitely not of the PG variety. Pictures that had been on his phone.  
  
The phone that was still missing.  
  



	9. Chapter 9

"News is he's been suspended," Julia chirped happily to Matthew as she caught up to him in the halls.  
  
He didn't know why she was still interested in him. She'd had her way with him, mangled his once beautiful long brown hair (which was now safely hidden under a black beanie); what more could she possibly want? No one except Tom and Chris had ever actually bothered to spend anytime to get to know him properly.  
  
"Huh?" he asked, his cheeks somewhat rosy still as he considered the fact that she still wanted to be around him. All the others of course had quickly lost interest.  
  
"Dominic Howard, the douche, he was suspended," she replied, oblivious to the way Matt suddenly tensed up at the sound of _his_ name.  
  
"Oh, guess that explains why he wasn't in english," Matt responded, doing his best to sound as uninterested as possible.  
  
"Yeah, well Rachel Hillcreast actually showed her face...quite frankly the slut got her comeuppance. Though he's still a complete arsehole."  
  
Matt suddenly bristled at this. Despite everything Dominic had said and done, it infuriated him to hear her speak of Dom like that. Who was she to pass judgment? She didn't even know him!  
  
"Don't say that." His voice was cold and all thoughts of his earlier blush-inducing thoughts, had vanished.  
  
"What?" she asked, for once picking up on the change in the slight boy's mood.  
  
"Don't call him that. You don't know him."  
  
"Excuse me?" she asked, his (quite frankly) rude tone causing her to lash out too. "I don't have to know him to know the facts- what he did was disgusting, I don't take it back. The two deserve each other, they're both complete sluts."  
  
"You're hardly one to talk, after all you were practically begging me to get in your pants!!" Matt, was now completely enraged; his usually well hidden bad temper rising dangerously.  
  
"WHAT?! You certainly weren't complaining either!" she shouted, causing some of the other students nearby to look over. "God, you're just like all of them aren't you? And there I was thinking I'd actually found someone different, someone who was their own person, but clearly you're just as shallow as the rest!"  
  
Before Matt could reply to her, she spun on her heel dramatically and stormed down the corridor, leaving him- suddenly self-conscious again- with a few sets of unwelcome eyes on him.  
  
He made a dash for it, cringing away from the unwanted attention.  
  
. . .  
  
  
"It could've been a lot worse, you know, considering what you did," Morgan said to Dom as he dropped off school work for him to do.  
  
"I didn't do it though!" Dom objected, but Morgan just shrugged.  
  
"Sure, whatever," he didn't sound convinced, but Dom had learned it was no use.  
  
No one believed him. No one at school, not his teachers, and not even his family did.  
  
"Anyway there's still Andy's party on Saturday night to look forward to, eh? It's sure to be a rager, he's been planning for weeks now!"  
  
"Um, yeah..." Dom definitely wasn't looking forward to the party. A party that Rachel would no doubt attend, if all the stories the lads said were true; she'd been putting on a brave face and had been 'acting a bit too happy.'  
  
"Anyways I should be going...but I expect to see you there, it won't be a party without you, Dommeh!"  
  
"Sure, no problem, I'll, I'll be there..." Dom replied, less eagerly than his friend, who obliviously waved goodbye as he let.  
  
  
. . .  
  
  
Why had he even come to this stupid thing? It had been an awful idea. He didn't belong here.  
  
The house was just a little way out of town, but when he'd asked Paul to give him a lift, he had happily agreed. Glad for once that his hermit of a brother was actually making an attempt to fit in with the other kids for a change.  
  
Matthew was nothing like him. When he'd been a teenager he was out most nights, going crazy with all his friends. He worried about Matt, he only really had two friends and they didn't even live in the same town. Paul never said it to his face, but the truth was that Matt was a disappointment.  
  
Matthew looked around for a sign of colourful hair, the sound of that silly laugh- much like his own high pitched giggle- but he couldn't find Julia anywhere...  
  
He felt so stupid and out of place, his beanie, still hiding his mess of pitch hair, did nothing to help hide him. He felt like he stuck out like a saw thumb.  
  
. . .  
  
  
It had been a mistake. He knew he didn't want to be here, but Andy had insisted; was this not his big party? The party he'd been planning for for ages?!  
  
Dom sighed and sipped at his beer, still doing his best to hide in a corner. He could just sit there and let all the others get drunker and crazier, the loud house music blaring out ever crevice of the building.  
  
Andy had been planning this thing for months, the main problem had been to find a location for said party. A place where the nosy neighbours wouldn't disturb what was basically just an excuse for the teenagers in town to get wasted and laid, all to horrendously loud music and on whatever they could find.  
  
Dom used to love shit like this, he'd been the one to encourage Andy when he'd first had the idea, before his fateful trip to Reading. After all, that's when everything started to go tits up...  
  
He was dying to go home, but Morgan and Andy had insisted he stay. Even when he'd had his inevitable run in with Rachel, they'd refused he leave.  
  
He'd thought seeing Rachel, her eyes full of anger and hurt, had been the worst thing that could happen tonight. The fact that she didn't speak to him or refused to hear it hadn't been him, made him even more upset. The only thing she'd told him was that she'd been the one to get him suspended.  
  
 _"After all Dominic," she spat his name out. "You're the only one that had the pictures, no one else could've done it. How could you? You know how self-conscious I am!! I HATE you and you should just FUCK OFF!"_  
  
She hadn't left any room for a reply, naturally taking that as her cue to storm off, deep into the crowds.  
  
He'd thought that was the worst. He'd been wrong.  
  
For, sitting all alone, looking lost and just as unhappy as him, had been Matthew.  
  
There was that now all too familiar pang. A pang of warmth. Of cold. Dom didn't exactly know, he couldn't put his finger on it. But then, when Matt suddenly looked up and right at him, Dom had felt it turn to straight out shame.  
  
Those crystal-blue eyes were sad. Matt looked even more lost and alone then he himself felt. So small and fragile.  
  
A sudden urge came over Dom to get up and go hug the other boy, but his mind stopped his body before it could even act.  
  
What was his problem? Was he going insane?! After everything this was the last thing he should do!  
  
Matt's features, as if he knew what Dom was thinking, pulled together into a frown, his eyes becoming ice.  
  
So instead, Dom- like the coward he was- turned to look away. When he managed to pull it together again and looked back though, he saw that the other boy had disappeared.  
  
That was the final straw. Dom didn't want to be here, so why should he? Stuff Andy and Morgan, they could enjoy it without him, after all they weren't exactly sitting with their friend, trying to comfort him and keep him company.  
  
Dom gathered his things, thought about saying goodbye to his friends, but spotting Andy attached by the mouth of a blonde girl and Morgan making a show of downing a large flask of whatever concoction he'd put together, decided they'd probably not want to be interrupted.  
  
So he left.  
  
But he left something behind. Something that, to be fair, he hadn't known was even there.  
  
It lay on a counter, a call having just been made from it, a call that would end the drunken night in the most sobering of ways for those that he'd left behind.


	10. Chapter 10

The second he set foot on school property, Dominic knew that something was wrong.  
  
He'd taken his week of suspension and then made a graceful exit from Andy's roof raiser, yet here he was; being glared at and even- from a few of the more hostile students- sworn at. This was a lot worse than the day he'd arrived to find those photos of Rachel.  
  
And he'd felt confused before...  
  
Managing to push past the hostile crowds he eventually reached Andy and Morgan, who were sitting in their usual place by the outskirts of the football field, behind the change rooms.  
  
"Hey, do you have any idea what's happened now? Don't tell me there were more photos," Dom asked them, but to his surprise they just glared and turned away from him, returning to their conversations with some of the other boys in the group.  
  
 _Okaaay..._  
  
"Guys?" Still no answer. "Um, Andy? Morgz?" Nothing.  
  
He walked up closer and tapped Andy on the shoulder, in hopes of really grabbing his attention. "Oi!"  
  
Instantly he felt his hand grabbed and pulled back at an awkward angle, Andy pulling it harder when he heard Dom yelp in surprise.  
  
"Don't you fucking touch me!" Andy shouted and he and Morgan just glared back at the struggling blonde.  
  
"W-What?!" Dom didn't know what was happening, they were his friends, why were they treating him like this?  
  
The other boys that had been standing with his friends all just slithered closer, malicious grins on their faces.  
  
"Are you kidding me?!" Andy yelled, tightening his hold even more, until he managed to tear a shriek from Dom.  
  
"N-No, why are you acting like this?! Let me go, Andy, you're hurting me!"  
  
"Of course he is! Why else do you think he's doing it?" Morgan said with an annoyed roll of his, now stone cold, eyes. Gone was the friendly light Dom had become accustom to seeing in his friend.  
  
"But why? Why would you hurt me?! What's going on, why is everyone acting like this?! I told you I didn't put up those pictures; it was someone else, I swear!!" Dom pleaded, doing his best to stop from crying out in more pain.  
  
"We don't give a shit about you putting up those pictures, for all I care you could've put them up on a billboard!" Andy yelled, managing to yank even harder, forcing Dom to shriek more.  
  
"It's about what you did to us, to Andy. Dom, why the fuck would you do that?!" Morgan asked, before managing to call Andy off the blonde.  
  
"What? What did I do?" Dom asked in complete confusion as he tried to rub feeling back into his arm.  
  
"Seriously?! You fucking told on us and made me the laughing stock of the entire fucking school!!" Andy yelled, and if it hadn't been for Morgan on his arm he'd have charged Dom again.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Dom asked, cowering in the ring of hostile boys.  
  
"The party Dom, you called the cops on us, because of you Andy and I spent the night in jail, about half the population at school are grounded now too," Morgan replied through gritted teeth, shaking his head.  
  
"Excuse me?" None of it made sense. What were they all on about?  
  
"Don't you even bother to fucking pretend with us! You've done more than enough as it is! There's no denying it!!" Andy Spat.  
  
"I'm sorry, I really don't know what you're all on about," Dom repeated, shaking his head. He'd gone home straight after he'd left and had crawled into bed, where he'd remained for the rest of the weekend.  
  
"You're phone you bastard. We found it the next morning when we had to clean up, with police supervising us like common criminals. I checked your call log and there it was: you'd been the one to call the fucking cops!" Andy was absolutely fuming, Morgan's grip on him barely enough to hold him back.  
  
His phone, it was still missing. Of course; it all made sense now.  
  
He'd been framed. Again.  
  
"My, my, my phone? But it's missing!" Dom protested and held his hands up, as if it would help prove his innocence.  
  
"Yeah, 'cause you left it at the scene of the crime, while making your grand escape. What a fucking moron," Morgan growled, his control finally slipping, as he threw an object at Dom.  
  
His phone.  
  
It hit him square in the chest, before dropping to the ground with a sickening crack, its owner far too shocked to react.  
  
"What...?" was all he managed to say, it was barely a whisper. "But...how? Who?"  
  
"You, you fucking arsehole!!" Andy yelled, and as Morgan's hold was no longer restraining him, he managed to make his move at last, pouncing on the still shock-frozen boy before him.  
  
Dom received blow after blow, the other boys, even Morgan- who he'd thought was his best friend- just sat and stared for awhile, feeling justice was finally being served for Dom's supposed crimes.  
  
After receiving a particularly nasty blow to the gut, the school bell finally sounded, rescuing the now bloody and bruised boy.  
  
Dom had never been so glad to hear that sound in all his life. Even when Andy was helped up off him and a few of the boys spat at him, he didn't care. The bell had rung, they had class and couldn't hurt him anymore.  
  
He didn't have to look up at the people he'd once thought of as friends, as they laughed and beat him like a dog.  
  
His breathing was laboured and painful, the last blow having badly winded him. He wasn't surprised though of course when they just left him there, a heap on the floor as they headed to class.  
  
No one came to rescue him. No one had seen him, obscured by the change rooms where he'd used to fool around with his friends. With the people who'd just broken him down, in more ways than they could ever have realised.  
  
Dom was now alone.  
  
Not just in his curled up position with only his totaled phone for company, but alone in this school. Alone in this town.  
  
After the incident with Rachel, most of the girls at school had hated him, his teachers and parents had been greatly disappointed and punished him. His sister had practically disowned him when news had reached her at uni.  
  
Now this. Now the rest of the population hated him. His friends leading the fuming masses. He was alone. There was no one, no one for him to turn to.  
  
He thought about just staying huddled up in on himself, crying as that was all he could think of doing, but he thought better of it. He shouldn't stick around here. Not at school, where he was most definitely hated most. Public enemy number one.  
  
He managed to stagger to his feet. He ached all over. Leaning down he picked up his smashed phone, the thing that had been the root of all of this and pocketed it. He didn't even know why he bothered; it was not only the bane of his existence, but it was now also completely destroyed. Yet he kept it as he walked away from the fields, safe in his pocket.  
  
Perhaps it was because the phone was the only other one who knew the truth. Who knew that he'd done nothing he was accused of, the only other one who would believe him.  
  
  
  
He didn't know where he was going, but he kept walking, away from school and all his persecutors. He needed to be alone, he couldn't stay around at school any longer, not after everything. He didn't think he could take another beating without breaking down in tears.  
  
Eventually, not as far as he'd have liked to have gone, he realised he couldn't walk much further, his body was still screaming in pain. Yet it was amplified by him insisting on dragging himself on.  
  
He spotted a playground and decided to take a break on one of the swings.  
  
He sat down with a big sigh. The situation was rather ironic; his past visits to this particular hang out had been full of adolescent misbehavior with Morgz and Andy, and before that- when he'd actually used the place for its intended purposes- he'd been here with Matthew, when they'd been kids. When they'd still been friends.  
  
Before everything.  
  
Now he was here, alone and crushed. Unwanted.  
  
  
  
  
Dom must have lost track of time, because the next thing he knew he felt  someone's gaze on him.  
  
He looked up to see who it was, only to be lost in a sea of deep blue.  
  
"Um, are you alright?"  
  
 _Matthew._  
  
Dom just stared back. What was Matthew, of all people, doing here, talking to him? Shouldn't he still be in school? And why would he even want to talk to him after everything Dom had put him through?  
  
"Hello?" Matt asked again, waving his hand in front of Dom's face. "Anyone home?"  
  
"Uh, I-I..." His voice sounded weak and strained even to himself, his throat all dry and saw from lack of use.  
  
"Dominic, I know you don't want me to talk to you, but...I saw you sitting here all alone, and, well, you look...a mess. I just couldn't leave you here alone," Matt said, filling the awkward silence that had followed Dom's pitiful attempt at an answer.  His voice was soft and cautious, uncertain of how he should handle the injured and clearly upset boy.  
  
Dom just looked back at him. Stared into those pools of blue; Matt's eyes were kind and showed none of the malice all the others had greeted him with.  
  
Matthew was here, sitting with Dominic, despite everything. Even after all the things Dom had said and done, Matt was at his side. Not his supposed friends, the people he'd thought he could trust, not even a family member, but rather the boy who Dom had treated with disdain and disgust.  
  
"Dom, are you okay?" Matt asked again, resting a hand on his shoulder, after having considered the action cautiously.  
  
It was still freezing outside, yet the other boy's touch seemed to warm Dom's shoulder, causing goosebumps to break out across his skin.  
  
He was finished. He couldn't understand it, after everything he'd done: all this kindness and caring? After everything that had happened to him at school, at home, with Rachel and his friends? He just couldn't.  
  
Of all the people...  
  
It was like the flood gates had been released, there was no holding it back, Dom just didn't have the strength left. A harsh sob broke free and after that he was gone, dissolving into a heap of sobbing tears on the floor.  
  
He felt ashamed and embarrassed; breaking down like this in front of Matthew. As if he hadn't exposed the bloke to enough of his shit, he now had to go and do this. He wanted to stop, he really did, but the tears just kept coming, everything he'd been holding in, things that stemmed back far even beyond from when the shit with his phone had begun.  
  
He'd expected Matthew to laugh or snort with disgust and leave him alone, a miserable, helpless heap on the floor; but was surprised instead.  
  
He felt two thin arms reach out and cradle him, with a surprising amount of strength, pulling him close and onto Matt's lap.  
  
Dom felt pathetic and useless, his body naturally clinging back onto Matt, his hands gripping the other boy's jacket and holding on for dear life, but Matt just held him tighter as Dom's sobs only seemed to increase.  
  
"It's okay, Dom, I'm here. You're okay." Soft words, words of kindness, intended to comfort him, only made it worse. The tears were now also from extreme guilt and shame.  
  
How had he been so horrible to Matthew? He didn't deserve this kindness, but he couldn't let go either.  
  
"Shhh, it's all gonna be fine, hush. I'm here, you're okay."  
  
Matt held him even tighter, stroking his hair as he continued to whisper kind words of reassurance.  
  
Dom wasn't alone. Dom wasn't alone at all.  
  
"It's okay, Dom, everything will be alright, I'm here for you."


	11. Chapter 11

"...oh God, Dom, that's awful; and you have no idea who's doing this to you?" Matt asked, nearly knocking the blonde over in shock.  
  
  
No one had believed he was innocent. No one, but Matt. Matt believed him. He hadn't even questioned, he just simply took Dom's word for it, without so much as a hesitation.  
  
Dom could feel a new wave of tears, spurred on by even more guilt, threatening to spill over. He sniffed and wiped at his eye, an action that wasn't unnoticed by Matt.  
  
 _I've already done more than enough, I can't now expose the poor guy to yet another attack of tears. Especially not in a public place..._  
  
As if on cue, just as Matt was leaning over the table, to give Dom's hand a comforting squeeze, their waitress arrived with the bill. The two were sat at a table in a small cafe Matt had taken Dom to, after helping clean and tidy him up a bit of his 'battle injuries',  in the hopes a warm drink and food would help sooth him. They'd spent most of the day talking through Dom's problems, with Matt comforting him.  
  
  
"Here you go lads," she said sweetly, placing it on the table, before leaving them to it. Before Dom could even think about looking for some cash, Matt had slapped down the required amount plus a tip.  
  
"Matt, you don't have to," Dom protested. As if he could afford to be in any more debt to the skinny brunette, now he had cash to add to the list. "I should pay."  
  
"Nonsense, not after the day you've had," Matt smiled warmly, finally managing to squeeze his hand comfortingly, before quickly pulling it back. He didn't want to push Dom too far. Neither really knew where they stood with each other now.  
  
"Ok, but next time I'm paying," Dom relented, returning the smaller boy's smile. Matt felt a sudden warmth spread over him, his crooked smile growing even bigger.  
  
 _'Next time'...?_  
  
  
"Of course, we can't have me paying all the time, now can we?" Matt laughed and stood up.  
  
"Exactly," Dom smiled, less brightly. He felt suddenly all shy and awkward again.  
  
Noticing the halfhearted smile, Matt extended his hand to the blonde to help him up, "Come, let's get you home."  
  
  
  
  
"Wow, it really hasn't changed much from when we were kids, now has it?" Matt observed gazing up at the outside of the Howard residence. "Hey, Dom, do you still have that-" but Matt cut himself off, noticing the silence coming from his companion.  
  
"I-I don't wanna go inside, I don't want to have to listen to my parents' lectures, and to then be left alone to curl up in my bed...I'm so lost, Matt."  
  
Dom didn't exactly know why he was suddenly so open with Matt, perhaps because of all that had transpired through the day; crying and snotting all over someone's shoulder can really have that effect. He'd let Matt in on everything. All his worries and fears, all except...  
  
No, not the new feelings. This _other_ confusion that was- even after everything- still bubbling inside him.  
  
"Oh, Dom-"  
  
But he cut Matt off this time, "and worst of all; I don't wanna go back to school tomorrow, I can't go back. I can't face them." He hated how sad and small his voice sounded. This wasn't him. He was always the jolly one, the sunny kid that always made everyone laugh; not this strange new kid that couldn't stop crying...  
  
"It's okay, you'll be fine Dom." Those wiry arms encircled him again, helping comfort and relax him. "I may not be able to get in the way of your parents, but I'll be there at school with you. I'll watch out for you."  
  
  
Dom couldn't help but let a small snort escape. Matt was tiny and as skinny as a rail, Dom could most likely do a far better job of protecting himself, but the gesture was so sweet he let his arms circle Matt back in a responding hug, before quickly letting him go.  
  
"Hey! I'm perfectly capable of fending them off, don't you snort at me!" Matt exclaimed in false offence  The two promptly let loose a few giggles at the suggested idea's ridiculousness.  
  
It felt good. It was the first time since the whole thing with Rachel, that Dom had laughed.  
  
"There, that's much better," Matt grinned goofily back at Dom. "You see, you'll be just fine. Now run along and get some sleep, it'll do you the world of good, maybe a warm bath before hand to relax all your injuries, and-"  
  
"Matt, what are you, my mother? Relax, you're right: I'll be fine," Dom smiled.  
  
It felt so weird to be having a normal conversation with Matt. He'd never thought in his wildest of dreams that the two of them would ever be able to get over the weird shit that had happened between them in the past; but aside from Dom's constant apologies, the two had avoided discussing their past run ins, choosing rather to just focus on the "now."  
  
"Well, then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school?" Dom asked, the atmosphere suddenly going back on most of the progress they'd made. He was once again awkward and unsure.  
  
"Um, uh, yeah. I'll be waiting for you," Matt replied, trying to ignore the regression back into their previous state of uncertainty with each other.  
  
"Thanks, so, um...goodbye?" Dom said, not too sure of how to depart, images of him sobbing uncontrollably all over Matt flashing through his mind.  
  
 _The guy probably thinks I'm some kind of freak, and a complete baby to have gotten so upset. What nerve I had- after everything I'd done- to then just go and cry on his shoulder. To labour him with my burdens._  
  
"Uh, yeah, cheers," Matt replied, his body half twitching to hug the other boy goodbye or something, but he managed to stop himself.  
  
 _Calm down Matt. We don't want to now go and scare him off, not after all the progress we've made._  
  
So with an awkward wave Matt left Dom, to begin the fairly short walk home to his own house. He didn't want to go back home either, in that he could relate with Dom.  
  
He didn't want to go home, to his excuse for a home life, to be reminded of all the things he didn't have. To be reminded that his parents weren't home to welcome him, even if it was only to lecture him like Dom's. At least then he'd know they actually cared.  
  
  
  
  
"Nan, I'm home!" Matt called as he walked in the house and locked the door behind him.  
  
"Okay Sweetheart, tea's in the oven, go help yourself," she called back from her place in front of the telly.  
  
At least he still had his Grandmother, sure she'd get uptight with him when he'd skip school and catch a bus to visit Tom and Chris without telling her, but that at least showed she cared. His Nan was a  traditional woman, and so was rather strict, but on the other side of the coin she was also a very kind-hearted and loving woman.  
  
After all she'd taken in her two grandsons without a second's thought when that useless daughter of her's, and her equally useless husband, had dumped them on her. She'd helped manage to get rowdy Paul to even finish school and get a job as a mechanic!  
  
Now she only had little Matthew to look after. Unlike with Paul, who'd taken on the whole situation in his typical 'I don't give a fuck' attitude, Matthew had responded by retreating into himself. The previously shy boy chose to isolate himself from the friends he'd had before, only sticking to the two he'd made in the music classes she'd sent him to.  
  
 _Typical Matthew, deciding to just be friends with the only one's who didn't even live in the same town._  
  
  
Shaking her head at the memories, she smiled and shifted over the sofa to make space for Matthew, who'd just walked in with his plate of food.  
  
"How was your day, how was school?" she asked, muting the telly.  
  
"Um, well, I actually decided to give school a miss today," Matthew replied sheepishly, looking down at his shepherd's pie. He could never lie to her and as a result the two had a very honest relationship.  
  
"Matthew! I know you do fine with your tests, but you can't just bunk. I thought you'd gotten over this silliness," she replied shaking her head, but she couldn't help let a small smile creep on her lips. It always made her so happy that he never lied to her, that he'd admit what he'd done. "So how are Thomas and Christopher?"  
  
Matthew looked up from his supper and swallowed, "I didn't go and see them."  
  
"Oh really, then what did you do all day?" she asked regarding the strange pinking of Matthew's cheeks.  
  
"I, I...well on the way to the bus stop I spotted someone sitting alone in the park, so I went over to see if something was wrong-"  
  
"Matthew, that's so dangerous! I thought I'd raised you smarter than that!" Matthew wasn't a silly boy, so she was surprised by his unusual response.  
  
"It was fine, Nan, relax. I recognised the person. It was Dominic," Matthew replied and took a bite of his dinner.  
  
"The Howards' boy?" Little Nod. "Ah, and what was he doing there all alone and not in school? Knowing Richard Howard, the man would have a heart attack if he knew!"  
  
"Well..." Matthew then went on explain everything that had happened and then that he'd spent the whole day helping comfort Dom and hear him out.  
  
"Oh, Matthew Sweetheart, you really are such a kind-hearted boy," she smiled softly and squeezed the boy's shoulder as he put his empty plate down. Matt just nodded in response. He told her everything, he never lied; but there was one thing she didn't know about him, something he had lied about.  
  
She had no idea what he'd done at Reading, or what he'd done with Julia and some of those other kids. She also had no idea of his sexual obscurity...  
  
 _She doesn't need to worry about any of that..._  
  
"Well, I do hope this means you and dear Dominic are making up at last; you were both always such sweet kids together." So of course she knew nothing of what Dom had done to him.  
  
"Even after everything he did?" Matt asked raising a sceptical eyebrow. "After how he treats those close to him?!"  
  
"Matthew, you yourself said you believe his story that it was someone else, someone who stole his phone. So, then if anything, he will need all the friends he can have," she said sternly, surprised by Matthews sudden mood change. "He'll need you, Matthew, especially in this town full of gossiping vultures."  
  
He'd need him.  
  
Dom would need Matt. It was all up to him, could he really manage it; to put aside all his feelings and hurt and be there for Dom?


	12. Chapter 12

Dominic arrived at school, his usual time, stomach knotting with fear. Matt wasn't at the front gate, but maybe he was inside, waiting for Dom like he'd said he would.  
  
Dom walked on, keeping his head down, pulling his hoodie safely over his head (also conveniently hiding his now swollen left eye and bruised jaw), hiding from all the glares he was receiving. Doing his best to slip into the shadows, he forgot he'd headed all the way to his old hangout, yet there was still no Matthew in sight, and here he was. Here *they* were.  
  
Shit, why had he been so stupid? So busy looking for Matt and trying to hide at the same time, he hadn't realised his stupid legs had subconsciously led him to where he always used to chill before school. To where he'd had his arse handed to him just yesterday.  
  
He tried to quickly turn on his heel and retreat, but he'd been spotted.  
  
"DOMMEH!!!" Fuck.  
  
"Oi, don't walk away from us!!" yelled Morgan, clearly still pissed off.  
  
"We didn't get to finish yesterday!!" Andy joined in.  
  
 _Shit. Shit. Shit._  
  
Dom tried to speed up, but there were a lot more of them, and they quickly caught up to him, rugby tackling him to the ground.  
  
"Ow, shit! Leave me alone!!" Dom pleaded, as he felt himself being dragged back behind the change rooms, like yesterday. He still hurt nearly everywhere, and all the rough pulling and poking was agonising.  
  
"Don't even dare tell us what to do, you little shit!" Andy yelled as the two big boys who'd been hauling him, threw Dom down at his feet.  
  
"Please, Andy, don't," Dom begged, doing his best to hold back tears. Where was Matt, why hadn't he been waiting for Dom like he'd said he would?  
  
"Oh, I won't, I've had my fun," Andy said, crouching down to look at Dom, who still hadn't gotten up. He knew there was no point, he'd be hit down again anyway, he'd seen this lot in action. "It's the rest of the lads here that need some retribution."  
  
"B-but, but I told you, it wasn't me!!" Dom cried out, desperate to hold back the tears just begging to be released. His cries were in vain of course as the boys began to kick or spit at him.  
  
He was all alone. He felt even worse than he had the day before, at least then he'd known he was alone, but he'd thought Matt would be there today. That the skinny boy would have come to his aid, helped him, shown him that he wasn't all alone in all of this.  
  
He'd begged his parents to not make him go, but they'd forced him anyway, staying home to make sure he went to school.  
  
 _"Take it like a man, Dominic. I won't have a coward for a son, is it not bad enough you had to put all those pictures up?" Richard Howard, his father had said sternly.  
  
"We are proud of you for at least trying to make up by reporting that party outside town, but that doesn't mean you can now avoid school. Face them, Sweetheart, show them you're not afraid," his Mother, Amy, had said squeezing her son's shoulder._  
  
He loved his parents, even if they were hard on him, but he _was_ a coward. He didn't want to go. Dom _was_ afraid. And now he was alone too.  
  
As much as he felt betrayed by the smaller boy as he received blows from his old friends, Dom couldn't  blame him. He hadn't deserved Matt's sympathy and help. He was just getting what had been coming to him. Why should Matt put his arse on the line for someone who'd been nothing but a complete dick to him?  
  
"...the bell's about to go, we should probably hurry up now and tie him up next to his boyfriend," Dom heard one of the boys saying. They'd been talking and taunting the entire time, but he'd zoned out. That is until he'd caught that part.  
  
 _Boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend, what the fuck's going on?_  
  
"Yeah, the faggot must be wondering where his little whore must be!" Morgan spat. Dom's inside were churning.  
  
He understood now. He thought he'd understood before, but it had taken for him to actually be called the name to fully understand how awful and heart-wrenching it was. No wonder Matt had been a no show; if he'd called Dom a faggot he'd definitely not have shown up either.  
  
"Get up you filthy faggot!" Andy yelled and gifted Dom with a numbing kick to the ribs. He'd taken so much it didn't even hurt anymore, but it also meant he couldn't stand, let alone walk to wherever they wanted him. He felt himself getting dizzy.  
  
"Argh, we don't have time for this!" Morgan groaned, just as the bell went. "Just carry him?"  
  
Next thing Dom was being hoisted up again, and dragged over to the other side of the far football field, like a slab of meat. Completely limp. A "dead weight" as the boy dragging him complained.  
  
"DOM!! Dominic!! What the fuck did you do to him?!!" Dom's eye's instantly snapped open, but he had his back to the speaker, his top half hanging over the back of his carrier.  
  
"Shut up, you queer fuck!" Andy, who'd always hated Matthew, shouted. Andy and Morgan weren't homophobes, Dom knew that much, but the two now hated Dom, so why not play up Matt's sexual quirks and insult them both?  
  
Dom then heard the unmistakable sound of a fist to soft flesh, and then a rapid intake of breath. They'd obviously hit Matt. Did this mean Matt hadn't abandoned Dom after all?!  
  
"Hurry up, Andy, we don't have time for this," Morgan muttered, as Dom was thrown down against one of the poles of the soccer goal post. He wanted to look over to where he heard more sounds of harsh breathing and colliding limbs; but he was surrounded and before he knew it, his hoodie, shirt and trousers had been stripped from him, before he was tied up to the pole with his very own shirt.  
  
The boys then took pictures of them, before leaving to go to class, laughing and joking away.  
  
Dom, trying not to shiver in the cold winter air, finally turned to see Matt, who was tied to the opposite post in the same manner.  
  
"Sorry, Dom, I-I, I tried to talk to them...I did, honestly, thought it would be better, so you could arrive and have nothing to worry about, but, but..." Matt, looked even more small and skinny, tied up in just his boxers, exposed to the cold conditions. He'd also clearly received a rather thorough beating, his lip split and nose bloody, aside from bruises and scrapes already forming on his pale body, black hair a mess in every direction. "I didn't think they would...I'm sorry."  
  
Dom felt enraged. He was absolutely fuming! What right did they all have to pick on Matt? He'd done nothing to any of them! Sure Dom hadn't really deserved any of this either, but it was different...Matt was just so...small, and he barely knew any of the boys in the first place!  
  
"No, Matt, I'm sorry. God, I'd thought you'd abandoned me! Meanwhile you'd gone and tried to sort it out already? I'm so sorry Matt, I shouldn't have thought you'd do that..." Dom said, looking deep into those ocean blue eyes. "This," Dom continued, gesturing towards them with his head, "is all my fault. I'm the one that should be sorry."  
  
"But Dom, it's not. You've done nothing to deserve this either! Don't be sorry," Matt argued, staring straight back at the red-rimmed, pools of teary grey. "Stop crying, it's really fine, I don't blame you, how could I?"  
  
"I'm not crying!" Dom argued, although the sniff he made straight after said otherwise. Matt just smiled sadly back. "Okay, fine so I'm crying! It's not like you haven't seen me cry before! God, after yesterday it's a surprise you're even still talking to me!"  
  
"Well it's not like I have much choice," Matt pointed out, managing to crack a cheeky smirk, as he tugged at his bound wrists. "Anyway, it was the least I could do for you, after I...you know, kissed you," he said, his voice much softer and apologetic now.  
  
Dom felt his cheeks blushing, much to his own embarrassment. Why was he blushing?! It hadn't made him blush at the time, in fact it had made him beyond furious, and caused him to say...  
  
"Well, I then went on to say horrible stuff to you...yet you still came and comforted me when you saw me. And now all this...why Matt? Why are you willing to be so nice to me after everything I did to you? I don't deserve this," Dom asked, now unable to deny the streaks of warm liquid running down his cheeks. "I mean look at you, look what you did for me."  
  
"Why not? How could I not? Don't look at me- look at you, that's how!" Matt said, in his characteristicly fast speech, only to want to bang his head against the goal post. How could he let that slip out? All the progress, everything he'd risked, it would all be dash now.  
  
'Why'd I have to be so stupid?' he demanded and actually did hit his head against the pole.  
  
"I'm sorry Dom, ignore me, I probably was just hit too hard on the head," Matt apologised, unable to look at the now silent blonde.  
  
Dom on the other hand, stared straight at him. His eyes roaming over Matt's pale, skinny form. All the bruises and marks disappearing to him; he just saw the kind boy who'd gone and spent the whole of the previous day comforting him, and then had stood up to all his tormentors and taken a beating for him, all after Dom had ignored and insulted him. "Relax, Matt, it-it's okay..."  
  
Deep down, somewhere, Dom could feel a tingling warmth. Something telling him it was a lot more than ok.  
  
The two boys, managed to change to a less awkward conversation topic, trying to keep one another's minds off the freezing cold, biting at their bare skin.  
  
Dom found himself unable to stop his eyes from drifting over the other boy's half naked body, as Matt obliviously prattled on about anything to prevent himself from saying anything else awkward again. When he managed to tear his eyes away from Matt's dark, raised nipples, Dom noticed something very different about the other boy.  
  
 _Why didn't I notice that before?! I must've been too busy trying not to cry..._  
  
"Nice hair, by the way," Dom suddenly said, interrupting Matt's speech about why Captain America was better than Superman.  
  
"Piss off," Matt said, going bright pink, having forgotten about the mess he now had for hair and unable to hide it. Those bastards had taken his beanie.  
  
"No seriously, it's pretty damn cool," Dom said, earnestly nodding. The thick, uneven black-mess spiking in every direction, bringing out the sharp lines of his cheekbones and making his blue eyes even more startling.  
  
"Really?" Matt asked, looking up from his toes, only to look back down again, blushing at the big smile on the blonde's face.  
  
"Really." Matt could feel his insides begin to feel warm and alive again, while his outside remained bared to the harsh cold and pain from his injuries. "And I'm sure that, when your face is less messed up and you can style it more, it looks fucking hot."  
  
 _Oh shit. Did I just say that?_  
  
First Matt and now him.  
  
This time it was Dom's turn to go bright pink and look at his own toes. Had he really just said that? Did he really think that?  
  
"Thanks," a shy, sweet version of Matt's voice replied. Dom looked up again, at the lightly blushing boy. Fuck yes, he did think it.  
  
*What the hell has happened to you Dom? You never used to think like this!*  
  
"Matt, uh, I wa-"  
  
"MATT?! Matthew?!!"  
  
Both boys' heads shot up to see a very familiar head of colourful blonde hair running their way.  
  
"Julia?!" Matt called back, as the girl reached them.  
  
 _'Julia'?! So that's the name of the girl from the library..._  
  
"Oh Matt, what happened?" she asked, bending down next to the skinny boy and beginning to untie him. Completely ignoring the blonde boy frowning at her.  
  
Dom watched as she freed him and pulled him into a tight hug, Matt now unable to hold back his shivers from the cold, as he told her everything.  
  
Everything. He told her everything. All the things Dom had told him and how he was innocent, that someone had framed him. And when she, completely ignoring the fact that Dom was actually still right there, argued that it could only be him, Matt defended Dom.  
  
And when, much to Dom's unexplained relief, she finally let go of Matt, he rushed over to help untie Dom.  
  
"Um, Dom, this is, uh, Julia. She's a...a friend?" Matt said awkwardly introducing the two blondes, before turning to Julia. "That is of course if you forgive me for kicking up a fuss for nothing..."  
  
She gave Dom a polite smile, before putting her attention on Matt again, "Definitely, if you can forgive me for being a tool myself." Then, to Dom's increasing annoyance, the two embraced again, before Julia tried pulling into, the still barely clothed, Matt.  
  
"Whoa, Julia," Matt squealed, quickly breaking the hug. "What was that?"  
  
The warm tingle, that was quickly starting to become familiar, pulled at Dom's insides.  
  
"Um, I just thought..."  
  
' _Well this is awkward_ ,' all three thought looking around in silence.  
  
"Never mind. You two should get dressed anyway. We need to report this," she said throwing Matt his shirt.  
  
"What's the point?" Dom asked. "It's not like they'll believe me, and even if they do, they'll probably reward them, after what they think I did to Rachel!"  
  
"But you have to, you can't just let them get away with this!" Julia said as the two began staggering around, gathering their scattered clothing and putting them on.  
  
"Dom's right, there's not much point...what good will it do anyway?" Matt muttered, pulling his over-large, grey sweater on.  
  
"Well...argh...it, it, just annoys me how everyone can just sit by like this always. Stupid hypocritical town," Julia sighed in frustration.  
  
"There is something we can do though..." Dom began, the other two turning to look at him properly. "We could just skip the rest of the day. I don't know, go to a cafe like Matt and I did yesterday?"  
  
At this Julia raised an eyebrow. What had the two been up to? She'd wondered where Matt had been. She'd been unable to find and apologise to him after a weekend of calming down. Now this...maybe there'd been a lot more behind Matt's little outburst after all...  
  
"Um, I...I have an art prac next, so I can't really afford to skip," she muttered. "But, uh, you two should still go, you know get yourselves cleaned up and somewhere safe."  
  
"Um, okay. Thanks for coming to our rescue," Matt said, and pulled her into another hug.  
  
This time Dom didn't resent the hug. He took art. He knew there wasn't an art prac today.  
  
"Um, yeah thanks," he said as they too embraced in an awkward hug, before she ran off again.  
  
 _Weird..._  
  
"Dom?" Dom looked back at Matt, shaken from his ponderings.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Should we still go?" Matt asked holding back a giggle at the blonde's far-off look.  
  
"Um, uh, yeah," Dom said, shaking his head. "Sorry."  
  
"It's okay, come you," Matt said and began heading for the gates, before Dom grabbed his slender arm.  
  
"Wait, Matt," Dom said, bringing them to a halt.  
  
"Yeah?" the smaller boy asked, confused by his sudden change in behavior.  
  
"Uh," Dom begun, unable to think of the best way to phrase what he wanted to say. He took a deep breath. "Um, back there- when she tried to kiss you- why did you pull away?"  
  
Matt's brow furrowed briefly, before he looked up into Dom's questioning grey eyes. "Well..." he began, trying desperately to hid his blush.  
  
It was as if, in that instant, Dom knew the answer already. Who was he kidding? He could feel the sudden gravitational pull, the way his heart rate had speed up, his hands feeling damp and the sudden urge to close the small gap of distance between them.  
  
"You see, now don't get all upset with me, I don't want this to be awkward, but I, uh, I-" but Matt was cut off as Dom, for the first time in ages- the first time since Reading in fact- let his emotions take control and just went with it. He closed the distance and brought those beautifully thin lips to his own full ones.  
  
The sweetness and feeling of that connection, sparked his sore and tired body, with energy and hope; and when the other boy kissed him back, without question, Dom knew everything would be okay.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okaaaay...so yeah smut demon alert... 
> 
> Please, continue...

  
The boys chose to give the rest of the week a skip too, deciding to rather go hang out in some of the small town's cafes (ignoring the suspicious looks from townspeople wondering why they weren't in school), in the public library and even in the park where they'd made up at the beginning of the week.  
  
So much had changed since then, but at the same time not enough either.  
  
After that initial kiss, neither boy had worked up the courage to make the next move. Matt too worried he'd scare Dom off again if he made the next move, and Dom still not brave enough to act first; hoping Matt would take the lead in this new, completely unfamiliar, territory.  
  
So instead they'd spent the week joking around and blushing when something even vaguely romantic popped up in conversation; choosing rather to change the topic.  
  
When the weekend had finally rolled around, Dom had to face Saturday: a whole day with his family around and without Matt. And to make matters worse the school had called his parents to inform them of his lack of attendance.  
  
 _Great, so now they notice me. No doubt Andy and Morgan told the school._  
  
To say the atmosphere in the Howard residence was strained and unpleasant would've been the understatement of the year.  
  
Then, to top it all of, Dom's little sister, Abby, had to go and paint a masterpiece on Mrs Howard's grandmother's antique coffee table. Resulting in even more furious parents, who turned to blaming each other for the 'disappointments' they had for kids. Dom's older sister, Becca, had been the clever one. She'd gone to stay at a friend's for the weekend. If only Dom had a friend to stay with.  
  
 _Matthew._  
  
Oh how he wished he could call up the smaller boy and be around him, instead of his sulking sister and fuming parents.  
  
He lay on his bed, earbuds firmly in place blasting some Nine Inch Nails to block out his parents constant bickering, thinking about when he'd said goodbye last to Matt.  
  
He'd wanted to kiss Matt goodbye so badly, that cute little mouth of his so tempting and those perfect orbs of blue sparkling back at him. God, he'd wanted to kiss him. He'd wanted to taste his lips again, feel that breathtaking flutter in his stomach again.  
  
He'd wanted him. He wanted him.  
  
Why hadn't he done anything? Why had he just stood there, outside his house- the way Matt had taken to dropping him off, via his own home- and done nothing but wave awkwardly. He'd probably given Matt the wrong idea, maybe Matt now thought Dom wasn't interested...  
  
He stretched out on his bed. He'd been running through this the whole day- Matt never far from his constant thoughts lately- and just wondering why they hadn't moved forward. Why they hadn't even held hands since. It was like Matt was now afraid to touch him! Like he was afraid to touch Matt.  
  
Argh, he'd never done this before. Guys were just so different from girls; how should he even go about doing any of this?  
  
With a deep sigh of frustration, Dom hopped off the bed, ripping the earbuds out, and listened intently to the rest of the house. There was no noise. A glance to his bedroom clock told him that it was already long after 11pm, but he wasn't even the slightest bit sleepy.  
  
All he wanted to do was see Matt, to hear Matt. All he could do was think about Matt, imagine he was there with him, comforting him. Matt. Matt. Matt. His stupid mind allowing him no reprieve.  
  
He had just ambled over to his wardrobe to get changed into his PJ's, the cold winter night needing more than just his boxers, when he heard his replacement mobile vibrate with an incoming call.  
  
There was only one person who'd be calling him.  
  
He practically dived to get the ancient piece of technology. Since the last had been broken his father had simply insisted he go back to using one of his old phones, and, as luck would have it, the "Blockia" was the only one that still worked.  
  
"Hello?" he answered, smiling at the memory of Matt's crazy giggle when Dom had 'introduced' him to the damned phone, as he returned to getting his trusty old PJ's.  
  
"Hey, Dom! What you doing?" Matt's speedy voice asked through the line, a touch of excitement coating the words.  
  
"Um..." He had to think of something interesting, he could hardly say he was about to pull on his old jimjams. "Just, you know, listening to some music on my bed.." It wasn't exactly a lie...he had been only a few minutes ago.  
  
"Really? Then why can I see you standing up, holding a pair of very interesting looking...pajamas?" Matt replied, doing his best to hold back a giggle as he watched the blonde jump with fright and drop the Spiderman PJ's.  
  
Unknown to the blonde, Matt had also been thinking non-stop about Dom, unable to keep him from his thoughts. Filled with questions and annoyance at the fact that he hadn't made a move.  
  
 _Why should I worry? Dom did kiss me first last time, maybe he's just thinking I need to do it this time?_  
  
So, unable to even think of sleep, or any form of rest without doing or saying _something_ to the blonde, Matt had put on his jacket and shoes and walked straight over to Dom's. Only really realising what he'd done when he'd stopped in front of the only lit up window, a very familiar silhouette easily spotted through the lone source of light.  
  
"W-what? How do you know that?" Dom asked, his voice sounding as startled as he looked.  
  
"'Cause I'm standing outside your window now. Surprise!" Matt said, cackling away as Dom practically leapt into the ceiling with surprise, before he rushed over to look out the window.  
  
And sure enough, just visible in the darkness, Matt's small figure could be seen, standing huddle up in his jacket not too far away. He waved when Dom pressed his face against the cold glass for a better look.  
  
"What you down there for?!" Dom asked, unable to look away, as he waved back.  
  
"Well, I couldn't sleep and I was wondering if you wanted to go do something," matt replied through the phone. "I figured I'd just come over and try my luck. So what do you say?"  
  
YES. How could Dom not?  
  
"Matt, it's the middle of the night and it's fucking freezing, what on earth would we do?" Dom asked, amazed that his voice sounded somewhat normal and didn't show his extreme excitement. "You certainly don't wanna come in here, I warned you; it's like a fucking war zone!"  
  
"Well, uh...we could always go back to mine?" Matt offered, looking down at his shoes and away from Dom at last. He was blushing, and even though it was dark, he felt the need to hide it from Dom.  
  
There was nothing more that Dom wanted to do, even if it meant braving the biting cold to get there. The problem though, was what his parents would say if they noticed his absence, it wasn't like they didn't already have enough to be angry about.  
  
"Um..."  
  
"Of course you don't have to..." Matt said, his voice dropping in disappointment. He'd known he'd been a bit too presumptuous in heading over, without so much as a call, in the middle of the night.  
  
The sound of disappointment in Matt's voice went straight to Dom's stomach, twisting it with guilt. He really did want to spend some time with Matt, some time to make up for not having made the next move.  
  
He looked down again at the boy before him looking straight up at him. Fuck his parents, he'd be damned if he missed this shot. What more could they really do to him? The only thing he still had to lose was Matt; something they had no control over.  
  
"Wait a second, I'll be straight down," Dom said putting the Blockia down, before grabbing a jacket and putting on some shoes.  
  
He was gonna do it. As soon as he reached Matt he'd do it. He'd continue what they'd started on Tuesday, if the other boy needed him to initiate things again, fair enough. Either way, he was getting a taste of those delicious, surprisingly soft, thin lips tonight.  
  
When he finally snuck out the house and reached Matt though, it didn't quite happen the way he'd planned. Out of nowhere he was leapt on, both warmly wrapped up boys falling to the ground.  
  
Dom's grey eyes looked up to be met with burning sapphire ones, just for a second, before the smaller boy leaned the rest of the way forward and brought their lips together.  
  
Dom's arms instinctively wrapped around Matt, who was still lying on top of him, as their kissing very quickly intensified. Soon he could feel Matt's tongue pushing insistently at his lower lip, and before he realised what he was doing, Dom gladly parted his lips to receive Matt's gorgeously slick, warm tongue.  
  
The cold ground was biting into him through his clothes, but his top half was alight with warmth, Matt's slight weight surprisingly comforting. But he really was starting to freeze and he could feel Matt's lips were somewhat icy too.  
  
Pulling away he finally managed to gasp for some air. Dom couldn't remember the last time he'd actually kissed someone like that. Since someone had kissed him like that.  
  
 "Come on, let's get going, I'm freezing and I can feel you are too," Dom said, sitting up. With a little grunt of displeasure in having to stop snogging, Matt stood up, and after adjusting his beanie, extended his hand to help Dom up.  
  
"Come on then, you're like an old man, Dom, speed it up," Matt laughed as Dom, having taken the offered hand, rose very slowly. Matt was eager to resume things and didn't want to wait any longer. "Luckily my house isn't too far away."  
  
Once up, Dom linked his arm around Matt's waist, pulling him flush against his side; and so they walked, teeth chattering and cheeks stinging in the bitter winter night's air.  
  
  
  
When they finally reached Matt's, he made quick work of the door and silently motioned for Dom to follow him in. On the way over, he reminded Dom of his home situation, and that they had to sneak in without waking his Gran. He then quickly locked the door and motioned for Dom to follow him up stairs and to his room.  
  
Once inside his safe four walls, Matt quickly shut and locked his own bedroom door, with a sneaky wink in Dom's direction.  
  
Dom looked away blushing. It was all still a bit strange for him; looking around Matt's room all the obvious signs that it was indeed a lad's room were there.  
  
"Sorry about the mess," Matt said, now blushing himself, as he kicked a pair of old boxers under his bed and tried to neaten up some dirty glasses and plates lying around. His gran was always telling him not to eat in his room, but then she never complained when he did.  
  
"It's okay," Dom smiled. "I like all your posters by the way," he said gesturing to the decorated walls. Not an inch of the room was free; Matt's favourite bands and musicians filled the walls, alternating with images of space, with anomalies like black holes and astonishing stars.  
  
"Thanks," Matt grinned and sat down on his double bed, one of his most prized possessions, following only behind his small collection of guitars and precious keyboard, all squished in one of the room's corners.  
  
Dom, noticing the instruments perked up a bit, "Ah, the famous guitars you've been telling me so much about." He grinned walking over to them, genuinely pleased to see them, but also grateful for a further distraction from Matt. Making out outside was one thing, but on Matt's bed, in his room?  
  
"Yeah," Matt replied, kicking his shoes off and unzipping his jacket. "You can relax, it's much warmer inside," he added, dropping the hint that Dom should follow his lead and join him.  
  
This was completely new territory, sure he'd been in other guys' bedrooms before, but they'd all just been friends (or so he'd thought), but now? He was getting those thrills he got whenever he'd been in Rachel's (or any other girl's) room. Foreign and out of bounds.  
  
He'd also always initiated things, but from the look in Matt's eyes he could tell that this was going to be something completely new and different.  
  
Cautiously Dom shed his coat and shoes, before joining the fidgety boy on the bed. So, how were they gonna go about it this time? Dom began to think, but after finally gazing back, properly, into those startling eyes his worries began to ebb a bit and be replaced more with excitement and...something else.  
  
That weird, new feeling he was still trying to get used to experiencing whenever his gaze fell on the blue-eyed boy.  
  
Neither really knew who'd moved first, but in no time at all they'd practically replicated the scene outside Dom's house; his arms encircling Matt's slim body and their tongues continuing to explore one another's mouths, before Dom decided to flip them so that he was leaning over the other boy.  
  
With less layers now, Dom could feel the heat Matt's small body was giving off. The biggest shock came when, as he now naturally did, he slipped his hands up and under Matt's shirt. It was silly, but he'd still been surprised to find no pesky bra to deal with or the softness of breasts, but instead, was met with flat, taught skin over sharply angled bones. The resounding sigh into his mouth from Matt encouraged him though as he began to start exploring the other boy's body.  
  
Wanting more contact on his skin Matt yanked off his long-sleeved t-shirt, exposing his pearly-white skin to the curious boy, who eagerly ran his hands over the ridges and bumps of Matt's ribs and fine muscling. The blue of his eyes disappearing behind content lids as Dom- after having removed his own shirt- returned to kissing him, but this time was sure to run his hands over the silky skin.  
  
The deep kisses just seemed to increase in their delicious intensity, fingers screwing up in each other's hair, teeth nipping and tongues lapping and rolling.  
  
Dom, wanting some more still, leaned in more to the other boy. He couldn't remember ever kissing like this before, Rachel for sure had never been this good a kisser. Pushing himself against Matt though, another thing quickly reminded him of just how much more different this was to kissing Rachel.  
  
At first the feeling of Matt's obvious hardness pressing into his thigh, through their pants, made Dom blush and nervous. But as Matt, oblivious to Dom's sudden discovery and embarrassed realisation, continued gracing him with breathtaking kisses, he felt himself become rather more...curious.  
  
"Matt," he rasped pulling out of the kiss.  
  
"Hmm?" came the other boy's dazed reply as he slowly opened his eyes to look into Dom's darkened grey ones.  
  
"Can I...um, can, uh...what I mean is, uh..." Shit. How exactly was he gonna manage to say this without sounding like a complete creep...  
  
Matt just let out a throaty chuckle, propping himself up on his elbows to get a better view of the blonde straddling his hips. "Yes?" he asked, but by the way Dom's eyes were raking over his body, Matt understood without him needing to tell him. "Feel free, I don't mind," he said, shooting Dom a cheeky wink, before stretching himself out once more.  
  
Cautiously and with excited nerves, Dom slowly began to unbutton Matt's jeans, before shakily pulling down his fly. The decreased pressure on Matt's arousal caused him to let out a deep sigh as he lifted his hips up for Dom, who then slowly tugged the faded, over-sized jeans off.  
  
Dom's heart was hammering as he kneeled there, one leg either side of Matt's slim waist. He could feel a familiar tightening in his own pants, causing him to blush a most furious pink when he managed to tear his gaze away from Matt's tented boxers, to look up into those perfect, blue eyes, which were studying him closely.  
  
Matt, propped up on his elbows, gave Dom an encouraging grin.  
  
"Sorry, about...all this," Dom apologised, wishing he could stop the burning of his cheeks.  
  
Matt just smiled back, flashing that wonky tooth of his. "It's okay, really. Suppose this is your first proper introduction, considering the fact we were both completely off our faces at Reading."  
  
Dom nodded shyly, "I do remember some stuff though, but not...everything. Also I recall we weren't this slow and with lighting like this..."  
  
"Well then, let's just hope you're not disappointed," Matt grinned. Truth be told, despite everything he'd been up to the past few weeks, Matt was really rather shy. He'd also be the first to point out all his physical flaws, but looking at the intense curiosity and fervor Dom seemed to be showering his body with, he felt his insecurities fade. He wanted Dom to do whatever he wanted with him.  
  
Dom's darkened grey shot back up to look into the, equally darkened, counter pair of blue. There was no way he'd be disappointed, but this was definitely a new experience.  
  
To Matt's momentary disappointment, Dom got off of him, but he was very happily awarded with the sight of Dom, returning, in his blue leopard-print boxers, his old jeans tossed in the corner. Noticing Matt's giggle and pointed look to his boxers, Dom blushed even more.  
  
"Shit, I forgot I was wearing these. Damn..." he mumbled, embarrassed.  
  
"Nah, I like them," Matt grinned and pulled Dom's mouth to his own for a sweet, toe curling kiss, the process of which caused their equally excited erections to brush. Dom, practically leapt in shock and arousal.  
  
"Jesus," he panted, pulling out of the kiss and looking back down at Matt's red boxers.  
  
Giggling, Matt gestured toward the, now too restrictive, material, "Go on, don't be shy." So, with a deep breath, Dom slowly lowered his hands and pulled them down past Matt's slim, practically hairless, thighs.  
  
His breath hitched in his throat at the sight before him. Matt, gorgeously stretched out, all his perfect, silky skin bared to Dom's hungry eyes. Not a stick of clothing to hide away any of him. So bare and open.  
  
Dom glanced quickly back into Matt's reassuring eyes, before letting them slowly travel down Matt's frame; soaking up every detail. Starting from those prominent collar bones, past his, now rock hard, dark nipples, to his rising, and surprisingly toned, stomach and along the slender, dark trail of hair starting underneath his bellybutton. And there,  standing more than ready, was Matt's cock.  
  
The long, thick shaft led to its darkened head, and as Dom moved lower on Matt's slim frame to get a better look, he was sure he'd seen it twitch, a prominent vein sticking up along the taught skin.  
  
'The bastard's bigger than me!' Dom thought with a laugh.  
  
He could feel a reluctant edge trying to tug him back, but his curiosity and excitement far out won his past beliefs, as he reach out and finally gripped the hard flesh. Matt let out a deep groan as Dom began to run his left hand along the impossibly silky-soft, tight skin.  
  
"Shhh, what about your Gran?" he asked, hand still firmly in place, eyes reluctantly moving to look up at the raven-haired boy before him. Matt's eyes rolled back forward to regard him, their vivid blue now barely showing, as his pupils filled them up. The sight made Dom's cock twitch, just as it had when he'd finally laid eyes on all of Matt.  
  
"She's a deep sleeper, plus the walls are thick," he replied, his voice laced with arousal.  
  
 _'Fuck,'_ Dom thought, both boys' lips curling into mischievous smiles.


	14. Chapter 14

"Matt?" Dom asked, looking up uncertainly at the blissed out boy before him.  
  
"Hmm?" Matt replied, not even bothering to open his eyes as he felt Dom's cautious and inquisitive fingers touch his sensitive skin.  
  
"Um, am I doing this right, I mean, how do I even begin?"  
  
"You're doing just great, seriously," Matt grinned opening a heavy eye to look at the other boy reassuringly. "Just go about how you'd wanna be touched. That's the best thing about having a same-sex partner, you know their anatomy perfectly and what really gets them going."  
  
So with a nervous intake of breath, Dom gently cupped Matt's silky-soft balls, feeling their warm weight as they rested against his skin.  
  
"Fuck yes," Matt groaned in response, and so, encouraged, Dom began to let his thumb stroke against the base of Matt's cock, tracing along a prominent vein which twitched under his touch, while his fingers continued to tease his balls.  
  
"God, are you sure you've never done this before? This is just so-unnghh," Matt continued to moan and was rewarded with a gentle squeeze of his balls.  
  
"Only time I've done something remotely similar was with you, and then we'd been fucked up on shrooms and in no way as thorough..."  
  
 _Unlike now I also didn't get to properly see you._  
  
"Jesus, then you must have the most fucking amazing wanks!"  
  
Dom just shrugged in response, eyes trained on the, now leaking, darkened head of Matt's cock. Without thinking, he released Matt's balls- a moan of complaint came from the other boy- and then instead allowed his thumb to swipe through the dripping pre-come.  
  
Matt's eyes opened and studied Dom carefully, smirking at the blonde's lips curling, unknown to their owner, in curious delight and wonder, as Dom explored his body further.  
  
Then, without warning, he dipped his index finger along Matt's slit, causing the smaller boy to hiss. "You like that?"  
  
"Um, do you like to breath?" Matt groaned and his hips jolted forward as Dom repeated the action.  
  
Matt's responsive groans and long string of every swear word he knew filled the otherwise quite room, as Dom began to swipe some of the pre-come down his shaft and start pumping Matt's cock. The blonde couldn't help the smile still twitching at his lips, the experience completely new and exhilarating.  
  
As much as Matt loved the brilliant, toe-curling attention, he couldn't help but notice Dom's free hand rubbing against the blonde's own leopard-print clad crotch.  
  
"Here," Matt said, using all his willpower to push the other boy off of him and sit up.  
  
"But I-"  
  
"Shh, hold on there," Matt grinned at him, as he pushed Dom down on the bed. "Let me show you how amazing it is to be on the receiving end."  
  
Dom felt his cock twitch at the prospect, but squirmed as Matt clambered onto him, his confidence melting away just as quickly as it had come.  
  
Noticing the nervous look on Dom's face, Matt halted his actions, dying to grind down on him in this perfect position. "You don't have to of course..."  
  
The sound of nervousness and caution in the other boy's voice, surprisingly helped Dom to relax a bit and nod. "No, please, continue. It's only fair."  
  
After all hadn't this surprisingly gorgeous creature allowed _him_ free rein?  
  
 _'Gorgeous.'_ Had he really just thought of Matt like that? Matt- a guy- being physically gorgeous?  
  
"Well then," came Matt's reply, and gone was his cautious nervousness, replaced by his former eager self. After a quick, sickeningly-sweet kiss to Dom's lips, he quickly yanked down the blonde's boxers.  
  
Dom instantly felt his blush return in full force as Matt, nearly mirroring his earlier self, then wriggled down to get a better look at Dom's newly freed cock.  
  
"Wow," was the raven-haired boy's simple statement, as he gazed unashamedly down. "Is there any part of your body that isn't perfect?" he asked, his long, pale fingers ghosting over Dom's throbbing erection framed by sparse dark-golden hair.  
  
"S-Sorry, what?" Dom asked in shock, stuttering as a result of the intense tingling the light touches shot through him.  
  
"Your dick, Dom- and excuse me for saying it so bluntly- is gorgeous," Matt replied, his voice heavy, as he traced lightly along all the ridges.  
  
There was that word again 'gorgeous.' Dom felt an extremely giddy warmth work inside him.  
  
"Seriously? Please, yours is definitely bigger," Dom objected, lifting his head up to regard the other boy. The first and only other male to ever touch him like this.  
  
Matt's darkened blue eyes shot up to return the stare. "Come on Dom, only barely, yours is hardly small either. Mine's also not nearly as..." Dom watched as the other boy's eyes rolled up, seeming to be thinking of just the right word, before they returned to his skeptical grey ones. "Pretty."  
  
"Wait, what; you think my cock's _'pretty'_?" Dom asked incredulously.  
  
"Definitely," Matt grinned back cheekily, before quickly ducking his head to lay a peck to Dom's purpling cockhead.  
  
The gesture so obscene, but at the same time so sweet, sent Dom's head reeling. It was so new to him. Such an act, completely unforced and not pleaded for, to just be thrown out there; the very way Matt seemed to just worship his body made a similar heat to that in his, now positively pulsing, groin form deeper inside him.  
  
He'd always had to beg and plead for Rachel to even give his cock attention when they weren't having sex. To get a blow job from her had always been a mission (and the other girls hadn't been much better either). Yet here Matt was, still grinning after the sneaky kiss, and eyes twinkling darkly when he glanced up at Dom, as he finally properly grasped his throbbing length. And all without any begging from the blonde, Matt had done it all, simply because he wanted to.  
  
"Dom? Hello, Dom!?" Matt asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.  
  
"Y-Yeah?" Dom replied, stumbling over the word as he looked properly at the other boy. The look on Matt's face, as his shiny pink tongue snuck out to trace the outline of his thin lips, incredibly suggestive.  
  
"Can I suck you?"  
  
Dom's eyes practically bugged out of his head in shock. "S-s-sorry?!" Surely he hadn't heard him right, he couldn't have!  
  
"I said," Matt began, all but his wildly glittering eyes completely calm. "Can I suck you?"  
  
"You're kidding right?" Dom couldn't help asking. There was no way that the other boy would willingly want to blow him, surely?  
  
"Nope. I'm dead serious. So can I?" His tone was still completely calm, as he patiently waited, Dom's heavy cock still weighing in his hand.  
  
Not trusting his voice he simply nodded his consent and was rewarded with a cheeky wink from Matt, before he felt the unbelievable moist warmth, that was Matt's mouth, surround him.  
  
A filthy, wanton groan escaped his lips at the incredible sensation. He was torn between wanting to lie back and lose himself in the sensation, and wanting to watch the way he disappeared and reappeared between the other boy's tightened lips.  
  
The sight of Matt's cheeks hollowing and his dark mess of hair bobbing up and down ended up winning. He just couldn't tear his eyes away.  
  
"Bet I give the best head you've ever received," Matt said, quickly releasing with a 'pop' much to Dom's protest. Before quickly returning though once more to the act, after wiggling his dark eyebrows at the blonde.  
  
He wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure this was the first time he'd had another boy's mouth over his cock. He couldn't properly remember Reading, but he didn't think they'd done this. God, he'd have remembered it alright.  
  
Matt's surprisingly long tongue wrapped around his head, traced seductively along the ridge under it and then swirled around, teeth dragging across all the right places. His small mouth taking in as much of Dom as he could.  
  
It took everything for Dom not to shout out and buck his hips wildly, the sensations so intense and all consuming. His left hand naturally fisted into the spikey head of black hair giving him so much pleasure, while the right clung on to Matt's duvet for life.  
  
When his cock hit the back of Matt's throat, his hips really did buck, the throat then quivering in the most hypnotic way over his length, as Matt giggled.  
  
Dom himself was a babbling mess at this point, pools of sweat gathering at his temple and on his top lip, so that when Matt withdrew a bit to run his fabulously expert tongue over Dom's slit, he was gone.  
  
"M-M-Matt, I-I'm gonna...c-come," he gasped out and tried to push the other boy off, his hips rising.  
  
But Matt just grunted something unintelligible, swatting Dom's hands away, before holding him down, his long finger's digging into the blonde's hipbones.  
  
Dom just didn't understand, didn't Matt want to let him go? Surely he didn't want to have him come in his mouth?! 'Cause one thing was for sure, there was no going back now; as that sneaky tongue swiped over his, no doubt, weeping slit, while Matt's bottom teeth grazed the underside of his head.  
  
The other boy's grip unbelievably strong as it held him in place, left Dom with only one option. He just managed to clap his free hands over his mouth, before he came hard. Muffled groan coming from deep within, exploding his hot creamy come into Matt's mouth, while his, nearly pitch-black, eyes rolled back into his head.  
  
Matt didn't move though until he'd managed to suck out every last drop, allowing the blonde to look up just in time for him to swallow it all down. Dom just stared, mouth agape, back at the other boy's sheepish grin as he used the back of his hand to wipe away the remaining milky-coloured fluid.  
  
"Did-did, you just....just...?" Dom tried to ask, finally finding his voice, although it was thick with disbelief and something else. Something strange.  
  
In the past, when he had been gifted with a blow job, the girl had never once swallowed, most not even letting him come in their mouth to begin with. Matt on the other hand was clearly a different story.  
  
"Uh...yeah," he replied, blushing as he ran those magical long fingers through his messy black hair.  
  
Since he'd had his new hairstyle Matt often hid it under his beanie, but on the few occasions Dom had caught sight of it, it was always a fairly spikey mess. The way it looked now though, messier then usual from Dom's grip, and the way the black seemed to bring out his eyes even more, made Dom smile.  
  
"Your hair looks good like that."  
  
The abrupt randomness of Dom's statement caused Matt to look up properly, into those beautiful grey eyes. Eyes which only a moment ago had been filled with, what had looked like to Matt, disgust, were now glowing with a strange sense of warmth.  
  
"Uh, thanks?" he replied, looking back down again. Seeing his own cock, still standing erect against him.  
  
Noticing Matt's stare, Dom sat up a bit straighter. Which took a lot of effort as his bones still felt like jelly from what must have been one of the most powerful orgasms he'd ever experienced. "Um..." he began, bringing the two orbs of crystal-blue back to him. "I feel exhausted...I-I, uh, I really want to, but-"  
  
"Relax, Dom, it's okay," Matt said, his voice full of understanding, interrupting the blonde's attempt at an explanation and apology. Dom felt bad, but he really was exhausted, the whole experience having taken a lot from him.  
  
"I'm sorry," he practically whispered, ashamed he wasn't playing fair. The truth was, he could already feel his eyelids drooping from exhaustion and he just knew he wasn't up for returning the favour.  
  
Not that he knew if he'd really be too keen on having another bloke's cock in his mouth, let alone swallow his come. The thought made Dom want to curl up in on himself. He felt like a complete hypocrite.  
  
"No, seriously, it's okay. Hey, I'm good at what I do, how can I blame you for being tired out already? I only wish I was talented enough to blow myself!" Matt replied, grinning back like a loon and managing to make Dom smile back, despite the guilt he felt.  
  
How had he ever been so mean to Matt? The guy was so selfless and sweet, even after what he'd just done for Dom, he didn't make him feel bad for not returning the favour.  
  
"We could cuddle though and fall asleep together? That is if you cuddle and don't mind me staying over..." Dom had never really been what one would call a 'cuddler' and in his relationship with Rachel, it had suited them just fine; but in his guilty state he felt like it was at least something he could possibly give back.  
  
"I thought it was obvious that you should stay," Matt grinned back, his skew tooth curling his top lip in a way Dom could only describe as 'cute.' "And sure, that sounds lovely." Matt's blue eyes glittered with honest sincerity as he said it, causing Dom's guilt to bite at him even more.  
  
And then, after he silently watched Matt pull back the covers of his bed and switch off the light, he opened his arms to be greeted with the warmth of the smaller boy's skinny frame.  
  
"Goodnight Dom," he sighed, their slight size difference allowing for the perfect fit, Matt's body fitting comfortably with his. Dom then noted that Matt on the other hand was indeed a "cuddler" as the smaller boy nuzzled snugly into the crook of his neck.  
  
"Night," was his simple reply, the tickle of Matt's breath on his bare shoulder and his silky skin against his own, driving him insane. How could he possibly feel so guilty and so content, as well as- at the same time- still have this sense that all of this was too weird?  
  
Just as he felt his heavy eyelids begin to draw shut though, he heard a little sigh from the boy in his arms.  
  
"Dom?"  
  
"Hmm?" he responded, eyes still shut for sleep.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Instantly it felt as though all the sleepiness had been drained from him, and instead he was left with his eyes wide open in the dark room.  
  
Why was Matt saying 'thank you'? Shouldn't Dom be the one saying it? After all what had he done for Matt?  
  
Matt was the one that needed to be thanked. He was the one that had put aside their past and comforted Dom when he'd needed him, believed him when no one else would, stood up for him against a group of hostile boys and taken a beating for him. Matt was also the one that had just begun to open the door to a whole new world of unbelievable pleasure, yet demanded nothing in return.  
  
As Dom lay there, the quite room soon filled with the sounds of soft breathing coming from the sleeping boy who lay cuddled up to him. The boy who'd given him so much and taken nothing in return.  
  
Dom couldn't help but feel complete and utter guilt wash over him, as a small bead of liquid traveled down his cheek and landed on the soft, black spikes nestled beneath his chin.


	15. Chapter 15

After narrowly making it home before his absence was noticed, Dom had spent the rest of his Sunday reflecting on everything that had transpired, while hiding in his room from his perpetually ill-tempered family. His lips still tingling from his rushed goodbye kiss with Matt.  
  
Matt... He'd been so kind and understanding, so caring and giving. Everything Dom had never truly known before.  
  
Sure he'd still felt guilty about how he'd treated Matt before, and about how he'd left Matt hard and ready without returning the favour, but he'd decided to refuse to let it ruin everything. Instead he chose to only focus on the positives for once.  
  
Which, as his father dropped him off at school (not risking Dom bunking off again), he found harder and harder to do.  
  
What were the positives when everyone you once used to think of as friends and trusted tutors glared your approach down? When every move you made to apologise and prove your innocence was just shot down? When you caught words of hate and mistrust aimed in your direction?  
  
Setting foot on school property quickly melted away any and all of Dom's attempts to focus on the positives. The positive; seeing as though Matt was all he had now.  
  
Dom wanted to despair and turn around and be anywhere else but at school. He wanted to be free of the glares and jibes, already being slung at him as he made for the gates. He very nearly did spin and high tail it out of there, but, waiting right inside the gate, was Matt.  
  
The skinny boy had for once forgone his beanie and instead his spikey-mess of black hair stood out and proud, warming Dom's heart as he'd recalled complementing it before. Had Matt done so just for his sake?  
  
"Hey, stranger," Matt greeted, his perfect blue eyes crinkled as he gave Dom his, less than perfect, smile. "I was starting to wonder if you'd chicken out on me."  
  
"Me? Never," Dom grinned and felt the urge to close the short distance between them and draw the smaller boy into a tender kiss.  
  
Matt, as if reading Dom's mind, just grinned back even wider, flashing that wonky tooth proudly. "We'll find time."  
  
"Excuse me?" Dom asked, preferring to play dumb, even though he thought he had a pretty good idea of the other boy's intention.  
  
"Oh, Dom, you know exactly what," Matt grinned mischievously and, before the blonde could even register his intentions, gave his left arse cheek a quick squeeze.  
  
"Matt!" Dom gasped in shock, eyes madly scanning their vicinity to check for any spectators. Luckily, as far as he could see, the only people nearby all seemed to be too absorbed in their own lives to have noticed.  
  
"Dom," Matt responded, looking up at him with big blue eyes and a pouty bottom lip, doing his best to reflect the definition of innocence.  
  
"What am I going to do with you?" Dom laughed and shook his head.  
  
"Oh I can name a few suggestions..." All feigned innocence had instantly vanished from the dark-haired boy.  
  
Feeling that now all too familiar, strange flutter in his stomach, Dom gulped and tried to clear his head. "Well best we get this day over with..." he suggested, not wanting to dwell on the implications in such a public place, before turning and leading the way into the very heart of his own personal hell.  
  
"Oi, wait up for me, Dom! Not so fast!" Matt laughed as he ran to catch up with the leggy blonde, who was walking like he was on a mission. "It's okay, you'll be fine," Matt said, trying to reassure him when he did manage to catch up, the expression on the blonde's face one of pure anxiety. "I'll be here with you too."  
  
  
  
"Told you they were a pair of queers," Andy spat, as he and Morgan, along with their little crew, looked on at Dominic and Matthew, who were sitting, huddled up in their coats, and chatting amongst themselves at the end of the football field.  
  
"Clearly," one of the boys, James, agreed, shaking his head in disgust. "And to think Dom used to be one of us."  
  
"We should've seen it coming, he was always headed in a downward spiral, not content with just taking himself down. We should never have trusted him. He and Bellamy deserve each other as far as I'm concerned," Morgan said, accepting a cigarette from one of the other boys.  
  
"I still think he hasn't learned his lesson," Andy muttered, before taking a puff on the cigarette after Morgan. "It's not necessarily the crime, but more the intention. He broke our trust..."  
  
"What about the scrawny one?" James asked, leering at Matt as he could be heard laughing loudly at something Dom must've said.  
  
"Bellamy always needs a good roughing up, the only problem is I'm scared he may enjoy it too much, if you know what I mean," Andy said, making all the other boys burst into laughter.  
  
  
  
It was with a spring in his step that Dom made his way toward the school gate, Matt close at his side.  
  
The day had gone perfectly, well as perfectly as a day with people constantly giving you dirty looks or ignoring you at every opportunity can go; but Dom was looking at the positives. Andy and Morgan had left them alone. He'd successfully managed to go a whole day without bumping into either of them and the rest of the gang or even Rachel. Instead he'd spent his day with his head down, staying out of trouble, and with Matt nearly always nearby.  
  
He'd been so pleased that, even after the newly crossed boundaries from the weekend, he'd still felt perfectly at ease around Matt. The two of them just continuing their crazy conversations and debates from the previous week, never running out of anything to say.  
  
Throughout the course of the day he'd found himself craving another taste of those perfect slim lips or to hold Matt's small frame in his arms, he'd been dying. For something, anything. He had to make it up to Matt, he had to make up for his poor show the other night. But it was okay, he could wait, after school the two of them could go over to Matt's, with his gran away at a friend's for the week, they'd have the place all to themselves.  
  
He felt his heart rate speed up at the mere thought, and just managed to stop himself from reaching over to take the slender hand within his reach.  
  
 _Relax, Dom, you can wait. Only a little while longer._  
  
He didn't know what had changed him exactly or when it had happened precisely, but he knew for a fact he'd been left a different person. Perhaps it was because of the warm distraction from his parents' bickering his night with Matt had given, or how they'd both managed to survive a day at school without so much as a scratch, or just getting to know the dark-haired boy even better, having spent a good few days now hearing that infectious laugh of his. Dom didn't know, but he wanted to experience this new found feeling, this new freeness he felt and to give back to Matt all he deserved.  
  
 _Just a walk back to his, come on, Dom, you can do this._  
  
"...so basically that's why Spielberg's E.T. was a key point in my life growing up, it just really helped me to realise it all. Wouldn't you say, Dom?" Matt asked, waking the blonde from his drifting thoughts.  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"Oh, Dom, seriously? You weren't listening were you?" Matt asked, raising his hands to still the blonde's protests. "Ah-ah-uh, don't even pretend you were now, I saw that..." but he just trailed off his sentence, having come to a sudden halt outside the gates.  
  
"Matt? Hello, Matt?" Dom asked, playfully waving his hand in front of the other boy's face. "Anyone home?"  
  
"My brother apparently."  
  
Dom froze, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Sorry?"  
  
"Over there, that's my brother, Paul. He must be home for the week," Matt said, pointing at a man leaning against his car, a little way down the street. "Typical, Gran still doesn't think I'm old enough to be home alone."  
  
Dom, heart sinking at what this could all potentially mean, looked over at the man. He had very light brown hair and broad shoulders, at first glance he looked nothing like Matt, far more solid and powerful looking, his features missing the fine quality of Matt's, but when Dom looked harder, he saw *Paul* had the same dimpled chin and mesmerising blue eyes he'd come to know as only belonging to Matt.  
  
"Uh, oh, okay," Dom said, not exactly sure what he should say about the new development, as he saw Paul beckoning for Matt to hurry up.  
  
"Um, yeah, uh, I guess I should go then...see you tomorrow?" Matt said, looking away from Paul at last and back into the disappointed grey of Dom's eyes. "I'm sorry, I had no idea."  
  
"Uh, it's okay, don't worry," Dom said, doing his best not to let the disappointment taint his words too. "I'll just walk home by myself. See you."  
  
"Argh, I could kill them I swear. There go all my plans! They never tell me anything, always babying me," Matt sighed and the two regarded each other awkwardly, both wanting more than a wave goodbye, but of the knowledge that it was all they could have.  
  
"MATT! Hurry the fuck up!!" Dom's head quickly snapped up to where Paul was no getting into his car.  
  
"So, yeah...later," Matt said and gave Dom's arm a light punch.  
  
"Uh, yeah, cheers," Dom nodded and returned the favour, before watching as the other boy made his was to his impatient brother's car, its engine already running.  
  
A small punch to the shoulder, that was it. That was all.  
  
With a heart, heavy with disappointment and regret, Dom made his way home.  
  
So much for having Matthew all to himself. Unlike Matt, who was the only one who seemed to care about him, Dom actually had to share.  
  
  
  
Just as Dom was beginning to fall asleep, thoughts of the afternoon's disappointment swimming in his head, he hears his mobile go off.  
  
Scrambling around in the darkness he finally located the damn thing next to his bed, his heart racing as he prayed the ring had woken his family up.  
  
He hit green.  
  
"Hello, Dom? I hope I haven't woken you..." came Matt's hushed voice on the other line.  
  
Instantly Dom's fears melted away and his heart was rapidly beating for a completely different reason.  
  
"Matt? No, no, you didn't! Don't worry!" Dom answered loudly, forgetting himself. "Shit," he slapped his free hand over his mouth; could he have been any louder?!  
  
Matt's responsive giggle made him smile though. "A little loud there, huh?" Damn, how could Dom have ever ignored someone with such an infectious giggle? It took all his will power not to join in.  
  
"Slightly...so what's up?" Dom replied, this time sure to keep his voice down.  
  
"Um...I just, uh, wanted to check that you got home okay after school, and to apologise again for our plans going tits up thanks to Paul and my gran," Matt replied, his voice speeding away in the now all to familiar way he spoke, making Dom's smile grow even more.  
  
"That's so sweet, yeah I did, thanks," Dom replied grinning. Matt on the other line was eternally grateful the blonde couldn't see how pink his cheeks had gotten. "And...yeah, don't worry, we can always figure something else out; after all I do believe I still owe you," Dom continued, biting down on his lip, surprised by his own confidence.  
  
"Really? You don't have to you know...you don't owe me anything," Matt said, biting his own lip, his insides squirming with excitement at the mere prospect.  
  
"Really. And yes I do. So, when's Paul out?" Dom asked, still finding it hard to believe it was his voice he was hearing. Where had all this confidence with anything to do with Matt come from?  
  
The two boys ended up staying up way into the night talking about anything and everything, until they both finally drifted off to sleep, phones still connected and pressed against their slumbering faces.


	16. Chapter 16

_...Long fingers were running through his sweat-dampened hair, scraping at his bare chest too, a wet, velvety tongue lapping at the droplets of sweat sliding down his forehead, before returning to suck his own tongue into the other boy's deliciously moist, warm mouth._  
  
He moaned and panted into the comforting heat of the unbelievable kiss, his hips rising to meet with his counterpart's boney ones.  
  
God. The feeling of the skinnier boy's pulsing, hot cock rubing against his own mirroring arousal sent waves of indescribable pleasure shooting through him.  
  
"Are you ready, Dom?" the other boy's mesmerising voice asked, full of concern and absolute reverence. "We should erase what happened in the past, make this our first. This is us. Just you and me..."  
  
Dom blinked his heavy eyelids and looked up into those startling eyes, now so blackened that their natural blue could hardly be made out. He felt his stomach flip with excitement and that something new.  
  
The blackened-blue's just twinkled back as their owner grinned toothily and continued to grind down on the blonde, eliciting deep moans from them both.  
  
"This will be so perfect. You're so perfect, everywhere...I promise I'll make you feel so good..."  
  
The raven-haired boy then lifted his hips to grind down one more time, before reaching down to take hold of the blonde's fingers and putting them into his own, now overly familiar, soft, moist mouth, where he proceeded to suck languidly on them.  
  
The gesture, so erotic, had him squirming as his fingers were lathed and coated with saliva, the sucking actions reminding him so much of what else that mouth was capable of. He started to come undone, the midnight-blue eyes trained on him, burning warmly into his already flushed and heated skin. He was so warm.  
  
So very warm. Very very warm...  
  
The heat building under his skin, spreading gorgeously, following all the contours of his body, gathering in his groin and twisting in his stomach.  
  
God, he was hot...boiling...baking...

  
_overheating...sweating...melting into his mattress, the covers too much._

_He needed to calm down, he needed to slow down, but he couldn't help it, he was gone. Lost to the heat. The heat which finally just boiled over..._

 

"MATT!!" Dominic yelled, waking up suddenly, shocking himself back into reality, his heart hammering madly in his chest.

_Shit, I'm sweating like a pig_.

Sweating bullets Dom looked around his still darkened bedroom, he'd fallen asleep with his blockia talking to Matt and could feel its impression on his cheek, from when he'd slipped into dreaming still on top of it. He felt uncomfortable and still a bit disorientated, his sheets sticking to his clammy skin.

He listened intently in the silent room, making sure no one had heard his outburst. When no one came pounding at his door he relaxed a bit, although his heart was still rapidly pounding away and his breathing short and choppy. What had he been dreaming about to make him shout out Matt's name like that?

When he kicked his sheets off, skin still clammy and uncomfortable, the covers even worse, as he tried to remember, it suddenly became all too clear.

"Ah, fuck," Dom whispered in annoyance to himself, as he looked down and instantly knew what the problem was.

_And in my bloody Spiderman PJ's! I mean really, how much more messed up can I get?_

As he got up out of his soiled sheets, his spunk having even seeped through his red and blue pyjama bottoms, flashes from his dream made their presence known.

Matt. Matt naked. Matt naked and on top of him. Naked Matt on top of him, grinding. Whispering. Sucking his fingers. Naked Matt about to...

Just thinking about it, Dom could feel himself starting to get hard all over again.

"Oh for fuck's sake," he grumbled softly to himself, as he quickly stripped himself of his gross PJ bottoms and pants.

He couldn't remember ever having had such a powerful "nocturnal emission" (as the health teacher had called it when they'd learnt about puberty way back when he'd been about 11)... But yuck, he'd certainly out done himself, he thought as he grabbed some tissues from a box on his desk and cleaned himself off. No, he'd need a shower too. God, what was the time even?

Dom fumbled around by his pillows for his blockia, to read the time.

_3AM. Shit._

His parents would certainly be suspicious if they woke to him showering at 3AM in the morning, it wasn't like they had much faith in him at the moment in the first place either. With a forlorn look at the offensive damp patch on his sheets he had to make a decision, he was still sleepy, but another glance down and he was reminded of his already half-hard cock.

_Fucking hell Matthew._

He couldn't get the slight brunette out of his mind, vivid images from the dream still replaying in his mind as he found a clean pair of pants and, with a deep sigh, crawled back into bed.

_Fucking 'Paul.'_

He added. If it hadn't been for the older Bellamy brother, he'd have had his way this afternoon, he'd have made it up to Matt. He wouldn't have fallen asleep talking to Matt on the phone, only to wake to a wet dream caused by him. But what a dream it had been...

With heavy eyelids, his mind still spewing thoughts of Matt at him, Dom fell asleep again, the wet patch and dried sweat completely disappearing from concern, to make way for another dream. A different dream. It still featured Matt and himself, but instead they just sat on swings in the park where they'd reconciled, chatting and laughing, a summer's breeze dancing through Matt's hair and the soft rays of sunlight glinting off the black strands, his azure eyes glittering with warmth and laughter...

 

 

School was even harder. From the moment he met up with Matt at the front gate, the next morning, his mind began to torture him.

Mixed images from the previous night's dream and from their explorations of each other's bodies during the weekend, kept popping up into his mind. He'd smile and nod at something Matt said, only to look up and- instead of focusing on Matt nodding and grinning in return- he'd only see Matt's pupils expanding and his tongue darting out to dampen his lips. The image reminding him of what Matt had done- and could do- with that glorious tongue...

"...Dom? Earth to Dom, come in, Dom!!" Matt asked, waving his hands frantically in the blonde's face in an attempt to bring him back down to earth.

"Uh, um, uh...uh, yeah?" Dom asked in turn, hopping a bit as he was reminded of himself.

"You were zoning a bit back there," Matt laughed, shaking his head. "Rough night?" he added, a smug little smirk pasted on his lips.

_How does he know?! No, he couldn't possibly... Relax, Dom, breath in..._

"'Rough night,' me? Never," Dom said, his treacherous voice choosing that precise moment to jump up into a ridiculous squeak, resulting in Matt practically falling to the ground in his hysterical laughter- which, Dom wanted to point out, in itself was rather high-pitched too.

"Oh, shut up," Dom grumbled, but couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips, as the two boys headed inside for the start of yet another day in hell.

"Fine fine fine," Matt apologised, completely unrepentant and still with a large, wonky tooth-baring, grin.

The two then entered the hallways, the usual glaring to be expected, so they flat out ignored it. Matt now having made it known that he associated himself with Dom, had also become somewhat of a social outcast. So they just kept to themselves, not looking up to only be met with antagonism and distaste. Today however, this meant that they missed something new. A new emotion and look that was smeared on their persecutors' faces.

"So anyway, it was really cool talking to you last night, Dommie," Matt said with a shrug, his smug smile gone as his concentration centred on his suddenly very fascinating black trainers.

_'Dommie'?_   


  
"Oh, um, yeah. It was cool talking to you too," Dom said, doing his best not to blush as he thought about what had followed their conversation. Thank goodness his credit had run out during his dreaming, else he'd have had to have spent the day trying to explain why he'd randomly yelled out Matt's name in the middle of the night. "So, do you know yet when Paul's leaving?" he asked, surprised by his sudden directness, as he looked up again and at the skinny, raven-haired boy walking slowly next to him.  
  
"Um, I don't exactly know, but I don't think anytime before Gran gets back...sorry," Matt replied and looked up at Dom, properly apologetic this time.  
  
"Oh..." was all Dom could say, his mind screwing around with him yet again as his eyes took in the way some of Matt's black hair fell in his eyes, reminding him of a certain part of his dream...  
  
 _Shit, if I don't stop now, I'm gonna give myself a fucking hard-on._  
  
"Yeah...anyway, um, I don't know if this will freak you out, but I just thought I might as well tell you..." Matt began, having noticed Dom's stare, he self-consciously brushed the hair out of his eyes with his long, pale fingers.  
  
"Uh...um, yeah?" Dom asked, only really half paying attention, as he tried to clear up his mind, his eyes taking far too much interest in those long digits.  
  
"Um, just promise you won't get all weirded out, yeah? I just figured, after what we've already done together, this shouldn't be too out there... It is perfectly natural after all," Matt continued, his cheeks flushing pink, despite his attempts at a calm and collected composure, as his own eyes returned once more to his shoes.  
  
"It's fine, you can tell me," Dom reassured him, looking up again, just in time to catch sight of Andy, Morgan and the rest of them, all shooting them rude and suggestive actions.  
  
 _Oh, fuck. What now?_  
  
He wondered as he started to pay more attention to the people around them. Laughter. That was new...  
  
"Okay, so basically, after I fell asleep on the phone talking to you I-" Matt obliviously continued to nervously forge on with whatever it was that he wanted to confess to Dom, when all of a sudden Dom spotted what was so 'funny' to everyone else, and just in time for Andy and the others to proudly strut towards them.  
  
"What's up homos?!" Andy laughed, making Matt stop mid sentence and look up, suddenly brought crashing down to join Dom back in reality.  
  
"What have you done?!" Dom demanded, looking around them at all the lockers and walls.  
  
"Oh my God!" Matt squeaked, his eyes finally joining Dom's in realisation.  
  
"That's right, we decided to exact revenge for Rachel, after all why else should we have taken those photos?" Morgan sneered.  
  
"But that wasn't me! Was it not enough that you went and did all that to us?! Punishing us for something neither of us did? But no, you had to go and plaster pictures of it all over the school?!" Dom was hurt and embarrassed, but most of all furious.  
  
His old friends looked completely unconcerned though and just shoved the two around.  
  
A laughing circle started gathering around the two boys, the other students all sneering, throwing insults at them and joining in on pushing them around. Some were even holding some of the pictures that had been stuck up all over the place. The pictures bringing back awful memories and shame to both boys, the aches and bruises they still had, only helping to make this all the more painful.  
  
The images of them, tied up with their own shirts to the goalposts, wearing nothing but boxers and their own blood, shivering with fear, anger and the cold, were everywhere.  
  
"Look how hilarious they look!" they could hear some girl laugh in the group of surrounding menaces.  
  
"Oh my God, I know right! And check how scrawny Bellamy is!!" another hooted, just as Matt was shoved hard to the ground, knocking all the air from his light body.  
  
"And poor Rachel, can you believe the gayness of Dominic's pants?!" yet another howled, Dom going crashing into Andy, who just spat on him and shoved him on to James who followed suit.  
  
The two boys, feeling helpless and like they were trapped in a cage, could only look on, their eyes darting from one section of the crowd to the next, Andy, Morgan and the rest of the gang soaking it all up with horribly smug smirks, their eyes trained on the two helpless boys.  
  
"Oi, leave them alone!" The group of people all turned suddenly to see who'd spoken up. Matt couldn't see past the crowd from his curled up position on the ground, but he could easily recognise that voice.  
  
"Oh, excuse us, and why the fuck do you even care?!" Andy asked, completely unmoved by Julia, as the angered girl pushed her way towards the centre.  
  
"Because what you're doing is wrong! You're just picking on the defenceless, outnumbering them, what the fuck is wrong with _you?!_ You lot are the only ones who need to be punished!" she growled, finally bursting through to the middle of the ring of hostile students.  
  
"Oh please, you stupid skank, just because you fucked Bellamy here, doesn't mean you owe him anything. Surely you don't want to associate yourself with him, and so Dominic?" Andy asked, taken aback, a cruel smile still curling his lips though.  
  
"Oh, Matt," was all Julia had to say in response though, as she chose to ignore Andy and the rest of the idiots as they started to shout insults at her too. "Here, let me help you up," she said and pulled him up onto his feet again, his blue eyes wide with fear and hurt. "Just ignore them," she continued, pulling him into a comforting hug, despite the increased laughter and gasps of disgust from those around.  
  
"Don't do this, Julz. You don't want to be left to face this too," Matt whispered to her, but she just squeezed tighter, before letting go.  
  
"Fuck off!" she shouted at them all, but Andy especially, as she grabbed Matt by the wrist and then Dom too. "Go get a life you mindless fucking sheep!" And with that she led them off back through the crowds.  
  
"Ha! Way to prove your manhood by needing a girl to come to your rescue!" Morgan shouted after them.  
  
"Well of course, she just wants in on it all- think about it, two queers for the price of one!" Andy roared with laughter, the rest joining in, none perturbed by the three's exit.  
  
"I can't believe this, where are all the teachers?! They put a stop to all the pictures of Rachel, but now?! Where the fuck are they?!" Julia yelled angrily.  
  
"They don't care, it's all my fault. They probably just think I'm getting what I deserve..." Dom said, looking back at pictures of his terrified self.  
  
"Fucking hypocrites! This whole town is loaded with them!" Julia yelled, just as a younger girl skittered past, one of the quite people who just tried to fade in the background. "Yeah, you're one of them too, for doing nothing!!" Julia shouted after her as she made a dash for it.  
  
"Just ignore them," Matt said as Julia growled, ripping off pictures from the walls as she went along, still dragging him by the wrist as Dom tried to keep up. "The worthless fucks aren't worth it."  
  
"I can't though! Just look at this!!" she exclaimed, flailing one of the pics of just Matt, where his nose was dripping with blood and he looked like he was desperately trying to fight back tears, someone had already taken a marker and written "Hello, I'm a faggot!" In a speech bubble.  
  
"What!" Dom growled now too, and snatched the picture from her, outraged. "How can they be so sick?!"  
  
"It's fine, we just can't let it get to us," Matt said, while Julia still carted them off towards the doors.  
  
"But Matt, they're attacking you now too! And I didn't even protect you!" Dom pointed out, shaking with anger and shame.  
  
"Well you weren't exactly in a position to either, the same might as well be said from me! These pictures are all my fault anyway, I couldn't reason with them that day and because of it they tied us up..." Matt said, suddenly halting their retreat.  
  
"What are you doing, Matt? We should be getting you two out of here!" Julia tried, pulling on his arm, but he refused to be moved.  
  
"No. Thanks a lot for helping us, again, Julz, but we can't just keep running. We need to just move on like nothing is wrong, we can't just let them win."  
  
"But Matt, it's a losing battle," she pointed out, annoyed that he always had to be so rightful.  
  
"Matt's right..." Dom sighed. "We need to just go to class still, we can't let them scare us off. That's what they want."  
  
"Alright, alright, but I can't guarantee I'll be there the next time you need rescuing," Julia conceded shaking her head.  
  
"Thanks," Matt smiled at her, pulling her close and gave her a peck on the cheek. "For everything."  
  
Dom couldn't help it, but the action instantly made his nose crease and eyebrows furrow. He'd failed, it had taken Julia to save them, all he'd done was successfully lump Matt with all his troubles too. He'd put Matt in danger, while Julia repeatedly saved them.  
  
As they turned and solemnly went to class, heads held high, he couldn't help but think that Julia deserved Matt more than he ever would. Even when Matt sneakily gave his hand a squeeze in parting as the three split up to go to their separate classes.  
  
"Good luck, Dommie, don't let them get to you."


	17. Chapter 17

"Now, Dominic, you better go to school on Friday morning, we'll be leaving just beforehand as we could only get the early flight, but if I find you've gone and skipped again?" Dominic's father was warning him, as he and Dom's mother were busy packing their bags for their 23 anniversary getaway. "There will be hell to pay when we return!"  
  
"Yes, Dad, I wasn't planning on skipping. I didn't even know you two were going away; no one ever tells me anything around here," Dominic replied, leaning against the doorway having just returned from school, as he undid his annoying tie.  
  
It was true, they never let him in on anything. Last he'd checked he'd thought they'd far rather be getting a divorce, what with all their fighting lately, but no, they were off to somewhere tropical (yet again not informing him of where exactly), to 'celebrate' their long lasting love. Please.  
  
Though, as Dom was very quick to realise, this could all have a rather brilliant surprise. After the week's awful start, school had continued to be an absolute nightmare and to top it off, despite Matt's gran having returned, she'd asked Paul to stay a bit longer. Talk about a cock-blocker.  
  
But now? Well they wouldn't be needing Matt's house after all; and Dom could finally make it up to him and stop feeling that constant awful guilt wash over him whenever he was around the skinny boy. Plus it would hopefully bring out a welcome relief to all of Dom's sudden sexual frustrations as well. Just thinking about the possibilities was making Dom hot.  
  
"Dommy, we're just warning you. Also you have to look after Abby this weekend," Dom's mother added, casually packing her favourite sun dress, as she completely shattered all the dirty thoughts that had begun to manifest in her son's head at the idea of finally having Matt all to himself again.  
  
"What?! What about Becca?! She's the one that's good with kids!" Dom protested, panic and disappointment, not to mention a lot of anger at his parent's callousness, boiling up inside of him.  
  
"Don't raise your voice at us, young man!" his father warned, finger wagging at his son and all.  
  
"Now, Dominic, you are more than old enough to take responsibility of your younger sister, think of it as a test. If you do this well, we may allow you a little more freedom and trust you again," his mother said, _her_ voice completely calm.  
  
"But, but, I still don't see why Becca can't just do it!" Dom whined, he did not want to get lumped with a five year old all weekend.  
  
"Your sister is going with that friend of her's- Sharon I believe- on a trip to their holiday home in the south of France," his mother replied, a proud glint in her eye at her eldest's social climbing abilities.  
  
"What? But that's not fair! She gets to flounce about fucking France and I'm left here to look after Abby!" Dominic shouted, feeling completely hard done by. It had never been a secret that Becca was the Howards' favourite, but to be so blatant about it?  
  
"Dominic James Howard, watch your language!" his mother, now finally shouting too, scolded him.  
  
"Dominic, if this is how you're going to behave, you can just forget us ever letting you go to another party again!" his father joined in, his parents finally finding something they could both agree on.  
  
"Like I care! There's no party I'd want to even go within a ten mile radius of! You both suck!" Dom shouted, storming off towards his own room, where he slammed and locked the door behind him, before putting on his earphones and blasting some Rage Against The Machine.  
  
 _Fuck them, I'll still find a way, somehow. There's no way I'm gonna let bloody Becca have all the fun!_  
  
                                                                                                ***  
  
"So, what're your boys' plans for this weekend?" Julia asked Dominic and Matthew.  
  
Ever since the latest incident at the beginning of the week, she'd been sitting with them at break, enduring all the nasty shouts and jeers from their spiteful peers.  
  
"Oh, well, I have band practise on Saturday, otherwise not much," Matt replied with a shrug, his blue eyes honed in on the oblivious Dom's bag of crisps.  
  
"Um, my parents are off on some ridiculous excuse of a romantic holiday, while I've been saddled babysitting duties with my little sister Abby," Dom said, before eating another crisp, completely unaware of the way Matt licked his lips at the action.  
  
When he looked back at Matt, the raven-haired boy was casually twiddling his thumbs, only for Dom now to zone in on his long fingers, his devious mind easily subject to impure thoughts about the other boy yet again.  
  
Julia just had to sit and roll her eyes. Boys. They were just completely oblivious bags of sexual frustration and hormones.  
  
"Well, _I_ am off to France this weekend, with my stupid sister and one of her friends, we're leaving straight after school," Julia offered, figuring she may as well say it instead of waiting for one of them to ask her. She didn't expect much of a reaction, but Dom suddenly perked up.  
  
"Wait, I don't suppose your sister's friend is a blonde girl- looks a bit like me- called Becca?" he asked, his attention finally pulled from Matt's fingers, but also, unwisely, from his bag of crisps.  
  
"Um, yeah, she's Becca... Wait, is she your sister?" Julia asked curiously, taking the last bite from the green apple she'd been eating.  
  
"Sadly, yes...thanks to your sister, I'm stuck with Abby," Dom sighed, leaning back a bit, his crisp bag slightly tilted.  
  
"Well I'm stuck with both my sister _and_ your sister!" Julia said, tossing her apple over the art block's roof. Before Dom could reply though, Matt finally made his move, leaping for the crisp packet.  
  
Completely caught unawares, Dom barely moved fast enough as Matt tried to grab for the packet, but he managed to elude the skinnier boy, falling back as Matt leapt onto him to make another attempt for the crisps, Dom holding them just out of his reach.  
  
"Oi, they're mine!" Dom cried out, though was soon laughing his head off as Matt settled to tickle him for the crisps.  
  
"Gimme them! Surrender now, before I make you wet your pants!" Matt demanded, sitting firmly on the blonde's stomach as his mischievous long fingers sought out Dom's sides and armpits.  
  
"NEVER!!" Dom declared, between his fits of laughter, trying his best to keep the packet out of the raven-haired boy's grasp.  
  
"Julz, help me get them! I'll even share the spoils!" Matt asked, his eyes still trained on Dom and the crisp packet, mouth in a broad cheeky grin, skew tooth on show for all to see, as he continued his fingers' merciless assault.  
  
"No!! Julia, help me!!" Dom begged, his body wriggling helplessly under Matthew's light weight, eyes watering from laughter, the crisp packet now lying, long since forgotten, on the floor.  
  
"No ways, you two are on your own," Julia said shaking her head. "As in can you please just get a room already!"  
  
"Julia!" Matt shouted, finally halting his attack, to look at the girl with mock shock. "How dare you insinuate such things!"  
  
Taking this as his opportunity, Dom quickly flipped them, catching Matt off guard, as he began to turn the tables on him. The skinnier boy's uniquely high-pitched laughter quickly filled the air as he squirmed about helplessly, his body trapped between Dom's thighs on either side of his torso, as the blonde kneeled over him.  
  
"Julz!" he gasped, his thin body wracked with laughter as he was tickled senseless. "Help me!"  
  
"Ah-uh, I'm not getting involved," came Julia's reply as she looked on disapprovingly, but with a small smile curling her lips.  
  
Just when Matt thought his own threat on the blonde was about to backfire on himself, the bell rang over the two boys' laughter, indicating the end of break.  
  
"Come on you two, class," Julia said, picking up the packet of crisps and helping herself to some, as panting and out of breath the two separated; Dom getting off the smaller boy.  
  
Unknown to her, as she'd already begun her dispassionate climb down from their new little hideaway on top of the art block's roof, Matt had suddenly become aware of something else.  
  
"What?" Dom asked, the dark-haired boy's gaze travelling south on his body, as Matt still lay catching his breath. Dom looked down only to suddenly realise the issue. "Shit," he blushed, trying to cover his crotch, blushing away fiercely along with Matt now.  
  
"Tickle fights turn you on?" Matt asked, cheeks still a light pink, but his azure eyes twinkling mischievously. "Interesting..."  
  
"Fuck off, Matt. Shit, now what? I can't go to class with a hard-on," Dom complained, as Matt slowly got to his feet.  
  
"Well I could always-"  
  
"MATT? DOM? Are you two coming or not?!" Julia called up to them, having slid down the drainpipe already.  
  
"Hey, it's your choice," Matt said with a shrug, eyes still unashamedly trained on Dom's hand-covered crotch. "It's not like we actually do anything in Mrs Hig-"  
  
"OI, GET YOUR ARSES DOWN HERE!!" Julia called. "I think Mr Thompson's spotted us!!"  
  
Quicker then they thought they'd ever be able to move, the boys sped down the drainpipe, Dom's...situation, long forgotten as the groundsman began to give them a good tongue-lashing, charging after them as they grabbed their bags and ran to class.  
  
"There goes our sanctuary and not to mention what else..." Matt muttered as he and Dom snuck into english, the whole class turning to give them the evils, even though the teacher had yet to arrive. "Fuck this place."  
  
"Shh, Matt," Dom hushed, a silly smile on his face, completely ignoring their peers glares as he and Matt sat at two desks near the back.  
  
"No, seriously, fuck it. I mean, I almost got to...you know, again, but no. Not in this shithole where everyone's determined to ruin our lives."  
  
"Matt, that actually reminds me, what are you doing this evening?" Dom asked, hiding his nervously shaking hands under his desk, as the other boy's deep-blue eyes looked back searchingly. It was silly, Matt kept making it obvious that he liked Dom, yet here the blonde still was nervous of rejection. He never used to get like this around girls, so why was it now with Matt?  
  
"Um, nothing much, probably have a night in with Gran and Paul- kill me now. Why?" Matt asked, sitting up a bit straighter, his own heart starting to beat a bit faster.  
  
 _Could Dom possibly be..? No, don't get your hopes up just yet, Bellamy..._  
  
"Well I was wondering if you'd like to come over and hang out with me, maybe sleep over? Sadly Abby would be there too, so no...- if you know what I mean? But it would be cool to spend time together..." Dom said, eyes shyly looking down at the graffitied desk top.  
  
"I'd love to!" Matt said, without a second's thought, a cheesy grin spreading on his face.  
  
"Really? You wouldn't mind helping me babysit?" Dom asked doubtfully, finally bringing his eyes up to look at Matt's.  
  
"Of course not! If she's anything like you, I'm sure we'll get on just fine," Matt smiled, Dom now joining in.  
  
"Oi, what're you two queers grinning about?!" Andy called suddenly, loudly from across the class.  
  
Matt's eyes suddenly bugged wide, but he just ignored him, choosing to focus on taking his books out instead. Dom on the other hand couldn't help look up to meet the taunting eyes of his old friends.  
  
"What you looking at, you filthy fag?!" James demanded, earning him high fives from some of the other boys.  
  
"Nothing, nothing," Dom hastily said, following Matt's lead in taking his things out. Now was not a time for incidents. Not when the day still held so much potential.  
  
"That's what we thought!" Morgan said, throwing a paper ball at Dom, which he ignored as it hit him in the head, just choosing to let it fall to the ground. No, he was just going to ignore them.  
  
"Fucking coward," Andy said and the others all joined in laughing, Dom was sure he could even hear Rachel joining in leading the mocking.  
  
 _Come on, Dom, just until the end of school, you can do this. You can do this..._  
  
                                                                                                           ***  
  
After end of school bell finally rang, the boys parted ways; Matt to go home and change and pack and tell his gran of his plans, and Dom to go and pick Abby up, before heading home to anxiously wait for Matt.  
  
Dom was busy listening patiently to Abby retell the story they'd started reading in class, something about princesses and castles and...who was Dom even trying to kid? He'd zoned off as soon as she'd begun, tactfully grunting and ahh-ing whenever the little girl would pause expectantly.  
  
He was just starting to wonder if Matt was going to show up or not, when the doorbell suddenly sounded. He leapt into action so fast he startled little Abby as he charged for the front door, only stopping to check his reflection in the entrance hall mirror, where he felt silly for even bothering and so, shaking his head, opened the door.  
  
"Hello there," Matt grinned, a small backpack over his shoulder and wearing his usual oversized clothes.  
  
"Come in!" Dom said, returning the grin as he stepped aside to let Matt in.  
  
"Who's he?!" Abby demanded, rushing up to see who Dom was letting inside their house. Typically he'd forgotten to mention to the little girl that his friend would be staying the night.  
  
"Hey there, I'm Matt," the dark-haired boy smiled down at the littlest Howard, as she stood cautiously behind her big brother's right leg. "You must be Abby, right?"  
  
"Yes, it's Abby. Come, Matt, let's go to my room, yeah?" Dom said, dismissing his annoying little sister.  
  
"But you were gonna play lego with me!" she whined, yanking her brother's hand.  
  
"No, Abby, I've got my friend here now-"  
  
"Oh, you like to build lego?" Matt asked, interrupting Dom's dismissal and gaining the girl's interest. "What things are your favourite to build?"  
  
"Matt, it's fine, you don't have to-"  
  
"I like building big castles or towers like Rapunzel's!" Abby said, having now dismissed Dom instead, the skinny, black-haired boy having gained all her attention.  
  
"Really? That's so cool! Will you show me?" Matt asked, the little girl suddenly forgetting her shyness, as she eagerly grabbed his slender hand with her own dimpled one and began to drag him off.  
  
"Becca helped me start yesterday, do you wanna help me now instead?!" she asked, still happily leading him off to the children's den, Dom following behind with an annoyed grumble as Matt gave her a positive reply.  
  
 _Does he always have to be such a nice guy? Sheesh._  
  
                                                                                                            ***  
  
As the afternoon wore on Abby continued to happily play lego with her new best friend; he having now changed her passion for castles and towers into spaceships, as the two built a monster of a cruiser out of Becca's starting blocks, Dom left to pout in silence as he watched on helplessly.  
  
Eventually though Dom ordered pizza for dinner and they decided to watch a movie- Abby obviously joining in, despite Dom's pleading that she leave them alone. She of course also chose the film: The Little Mermaid. When Dom had looked to Matt for help, the smaller boy had just shrugged and said it was fine.  
  
So there they sat, the pizza having long since been flattened, Matt with Abby in his lap- the little girl now far more interested in playing with his hair than the movie she'd insisted they watch- and Dom left to glower on jealously. The night was most definitely not going as planned. Sure he hadn't thought he and Matt would be able to get up to anything too exciting, but he most certainly hadn't counted on Abby taking a shine to Matt and so effectively stealing him for the night.  
  
Dom wanted to be able to be the one to cuddle up with Matt (and he didn't even like cuddling!), but instead he was left to watch his little sister have the honours, the other boy happily putting up with it all.  
  
"I don't like the fat octopus lady!" Abby declared. "She's scary!" At this the little girl turned away from the TV screen and instead burrowed into Matt, clutching him as she hid her face in his jersey.  
  
"She's not that bad, love. We know she's not going to hurt Ariel, plus it's just a movie," Matt tried, stroking her long, blonde hair comfortingly.  
  
"Abby, you've seen this film a hundred times! You never really got scared then!" Dom complained as Matt began to rub her back soothingly. "Stop smothering Matt already!"  
  
"But I've never watched at night before," she mumbled, muffled by Matt's grey jersey.  
  
"Don't worry, Dom, I don't mind, really," Matt shrugged, continuing to stroke her back as she cuddled into him more.  
  
"No, she's just being silly now and anyway it's past her bedtime," Dom said, suddenly standing up. "Come on, Abby, you should go to sleep now."  
  
"But I don't wanna," she whined, clinging tighter to Matt.  
  
"Abby, seriously. Mum and Dad would go mental," Dom warned, crossing his arms in annoyance. "It's already eight."  
  
"Come on, Abby, Dom's right. We don't want to upset your Mum and Dad," Matt said, trying to get up, but the little girl didn't loosen her hold.  
  
"Carry me, Matty!" she declared, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his torso. "Then I will go to bed!"  
  
"Seriously?!" Dom moaned, but Matt nodded and, supporting her in his arms, stood up.  
  
"Alrighty then, but where's you're room, Abby love?" Matt asked, as the little girl giggled happily, holding onto the skinny boy tightly.  
  
"Upstairs! It's next to Dom's!" so with Abby as his giggling GPS, Matt managed to carry her off to her room, after slinging her onto his back for the piggyback ride, Dom following behind, yet again, with a big sigh.  
  
"You should change into your PJ's, Abby, you can't sleep in your clothes," Dom said with yet another sigh as the little girl tried to crawl into bed, still wearing her normal clothes.  
  
"But I want Matt to tuck me in!" she complained, as Dom handed her her PJ's, that had been under her pillow.  
  
"Abby," Dom sighed, having had enough.  
  
"It's fine, I really don't mind," Matt said to Dom with a shrug, before turning back to Abby. "Now, you should change and brush your teeth, then we'll tuck you in, okay?"  
  
"Okay!" and off Abby ran to go and do her teeth, leaving the two boys alone in her bright-purple room.  
  
"I didn't know you were so good with kids," Dom said, looking at Matt, who was reading the spines of the few books in Abby's bookshelf.  
  
"Oh, yeah. I don't know, being the youngest in my family, I always wanted a little sibling. Paul was too old and more often then not I'd be left all alone- especially after my parents divorced and you and I fell out of touch... I never really made any other friends, except for Tom and Chris, but they live a town away," he replied, turning to look at Dom too, before looking down and blushing, because the blonde boy was staring at him so intensely.  
  
"Matt, I'm so sorr-"  
  
"I'm back!" Abby declared, skipping into the room, teeth brushed and already in her fluffy, powder-blue pyjamas, completely oblivious to the other two's private conversation.  
  
"Oh, uh, cool, well best you hop into bed then," Matt said, snapping back to his earlier sweet and happy self, as he helped tuck in the little girl; who demanded a kiss goodnight from both of the boys.  
  
Once she was safely snuggled up, Dom switched off the light and the two went back to go and watch a movie of their own.  
  
When they'd sat down again, alone at last in the now dimly lit room, some or other action film on, Dom decided to broach the subject again.  
  
"You know I really am sorry, I should've been a better friend right from the start- all that shit after Reading wasn't even the beginning," he said, looking at the dark-haired boy, who's attention had been immediately absorbed by the movie.  
  
"It's fine, don't worry about it. It's all in the past now," Matt said with a shrug and leaned back against the foot of the couch, next to Dom.  
  
"No, how can I not? I just ditched you- probably at a time in your life when you needed a friend most- just so that I could become one of the popular kids," Dom said, shaking his head ashamedly." And anyway, look just how well that all panned out; they didn't even believe it wasn't me, when you- of all people- still believed me and forgave me for everything I actually _did_ do to you."  
  
"Dom, it's fine, seriously- can we please just leave that all behind and move on already?" Matt said, his hand slipping onto the other boy's forearm, to give him a reassuring squeeze. "Let's just start this all over; it's just you and I."  
  
The words striking such a cord to the dream Dom had had at the beginning of the week, were what pushed him in the end. Before Matt could even withdraw his arm, Dom leaned forward and caught his thin lips in a kiss.  
  
It didn't take long for the smaller boy to join in and soon he was lying back, Dom over him as their kissing intensified. Their tongues sliding hotly against one another as they re-explored each other's mouths. Matt's hands knotted into Dom's thick, blonde hair, holding his mouth down on him, as Dom's began to push up the smaller boy's jersey and t-shirt, exposing his pale stomach to the heated room and Dom's excited touch.  
  
"God, I've been dying to kiss you for so long," Matt moaned, as Dom began to suck on his pulse point.  
  
"Not as much as I have you," Dom countered, now moving down to gracefully kiss Matt's uncovered stomach, the pale flesh quivering under his warm mouth.  
  
"I highly doubt that..." Matt began, closing his eyes as Dom's finger's slid his clothes further up, to caress his hardened nipples. "Remember I was going to tell you something at the beginning of the week, but then we got interrupted with the whole photo disaster?"  
  
"Hmm?" Dom answered, now having replaced his teasing fingers with his tongue, which swirled around one of the dark, hardened nubs.  
  
"Well, as I remember, I started telling you not to freak out- Oh God yes, that's sooo ungh!" Matt started, but was momentarily distracted when the blonde began to gently roll one of the nipples between his perfect teeth.  
  
"Continue, I'm listening," Dom said, breaking off, only to gift the other nipple with the same treatment.  
  
"Well- Whoa careful there, aughh!- um, I-I, had- Jesus, yes!- a wet dream about us having sex," Matt finally managed to finish, Dom suddenly popping straight up into a sitting position astride the other boy's waist.  
  
"Sorry, you what?" Dom asked, not quite sure he'd heard him properly.  
  
"I woke up after a dream about us shagging in my bed, to find I'd- well you know," Matt repeated, propping himself up on his elbows to look at the blonde better, nervous of his response. "Don't freak out though, it's completely normal- I mean, haven't you had dreams like that in the past too?- obviously not with me, but still."  
  
Dominic just stared back at him, unable to believe his ears. "You dreamt about us fucking?"  
  
"Well, I wouldn't be so crass about it, but yes," Matt nodded, blue eyes nervously trying to read his friend's grey ones. "Um, this hasn't upset you, has it?"  
  
"W-What?" Dom asked, shaking his head to clear his mind of the images that had begun to swim about his mind. "Um, no, no. Of course not...was I any good?" he added with genuine curiosity, his hands all but forgotten now as they hung limply at his sides.  
  
"Well, yeah, let's just say I insisted on doing the laundry..." Matt replied, now blushing furiously.  
  
"Seriously...wow, 'cause- now don't laugh- I had a similar dream, except mine woke me just before anything really good got started..." Dom admitted, now even pinker than the boy he was still sitting on.  
  
"Y-You did?!" Matt asked, not believing that Dom too had actually been fantasising about him. He still wasn't too sure where he even properly stood with him.  
  
"Yeah...feel kinda cheated though, as I never saw it get started properly," Dom admitted, braving a glance at Matt's stunned, flushed face.  
  
"Well I guess we'll have to sort that out then..." Matt braved, still not sure exactly how far he could push it.  
  
"Definitely," Dom grinned. "But obviously not now, not when Abby's just upstairs...I can't remember- but you look a bit like a screamer."  
  
"Oi, cheeky!" Matt laughed, but agreed that it wasn't the best time to get it properly 'on'.  
  
"But- _but_ \- that doesn't mean we still can't continue having some fun," Dom winked, before dropping down to start kissing Matt again.  
  
This time the kissing very quickly escalated, the boys just continuing off from where they'd stopped, except for now both felt more bold in their approach after each other's confessions. Matt braved slipping his hands into the back pockets of Dom's jeans, while- as if to prove a point- the blonde's started to toy with the elastic of Matt's boxers, having easily slipped just under his loose-fitting jeans.  
  
"Can I, please?" Dom asked, his breath choppy from all the kissing and his fingertips barely having breached the top of the elastic, while his left thumb caressed the scattering of dark hair starting from Matt's navel.  
  
"Do you even need to ask?" Matt managed, his own breath having become laboured too.  
  
"Shit, you're the easiest person I've ever been with- and I mean that with the highest of praises and compliments," Dom laughed, his left hand finally slipping further into the incredible warmth the other boy's groin was giving off.  
  
"You better; after all I'm granting you access to my glorious dick," Matt teased, as he felt Dom's fingers tauntingly tug on the scattering of hairs just above said dick.  
  
"Hush, since when are you so cheeky?" Dom laughed, but before the other boy could reply he brushed his index finger right along Matt's ridged length.  
  
"Oh God, that feels so-" but Dom silenced him with another passionate kiss, leaving the raven-haired boy to moan hotly into his mouth, as he now firmly gripped Matt's twitching cock. Matt's long fingers then laced into Dom's blonde hair, while the other boy began to properly start stroking him.  
  
"Jesus, Matt, I forgot how big you were," Dom drawled as the two gasped in some air between kisses.  
  
"Nonsense," Matt blushed, as he tried to get his own hand down Dom's pants. "And anyway that sounds like a bad porno line."  
  
"Excuse you, I give you this major compliment- sure I don't have much experience to draw on when it comes to handling other bloke's cocks, but I think it's safe to say I'm spot on- and you just throw it back in my face? Why I never!" Dom exclaimed in mock hurt, while his fist made an upward twist just over the head of Matt's cock, the action causing the smaller boy to thrust up in a loud moan as his hands now gripped onto Dom's hips instead.  
  
"Hold on a sec, I need to still repay you, how can I get in your pants too if you keep that up?" Matt gasped, as Dom continued his stroking and twisting.  
  
"Ah-uh, let me have the honours tonight," Dom insisted, knocking away the other boy's right hand with his free one, as it made another attempt on his trouser's waistband.  
  
"I want to argue but-" Matt began, just when Dom let go of his pulsing cock to briefly #fondle# his balls. "When you do that- Jesus- I can't."  
  
"Well then don't," Dom grinned, cheekily nipping Matt's bottom lip, before ending their chat with more breathy kissing.  
  
The room was then left with just the sounds of Matt's responsive groans as Dom continued to work his cock and that of their mouths merging: sucking and licking. Dom then slid a fingertip through Matt's weeping slit, sending the smaller boy over the edge, as he finally came, loudly crying Dom's name.  
  
The blonde was just about to pull the orgasming boy into another heavy round of kissing, still milking his cock of all its come, when he heard a gasp that most definitely wasn't coming from the boy beneath him.  
  
"What are you doing to Matt, Dom?!" Abby's shrill voice sounded in the dimly lit room.  
  
"Abby?!" Matt, shocked right back down from his high, gasped, his head popping up as he immediately propped himself back up, though nearly fell over again as his orgasm's last waves were still passing through him, while Dom instantly yanked his hand out of his trousers.  
  
"Abby, what are you doing up?!" Dom yelled, as he jumped up off of the still somewhat disorientated and surprised Matt.  
  
"I couldn't sleep...but I heard funny noises coming from here, so I was worried..." Abby said, her eyes still big as she looked from one flushed boy to the other.  
  
"Oh God, Dom," Matt said, his panicked eyes as wide as saucers as he looked at Dom, sitting up now and drawing his legs up against his chest.  
  
"Um, what did you see, Abby?" Dom asked his little sister cautiously.  
  
"You were touching Matt funny and he was crying- why were you hurting Matt?" she asked, her eyes worriedly looking at Matt, Dom taking the opportunity to discreetly wipe his left hand on his trousers.  
  
"Um, uh, I'm fine, love, Dom didn't hurt me," Matt said as reassuringly as he could, but didn't move, which worried the little girl, so she walked over to him, making both boys jump.  
  
"Then why were you making funny noises? And why was Dom's hand in your pants?" she asked, her eyes looking accusingly at Dom, as she stood protectively next to Matt.  
  
"Um, uh," Matt tried, looking to Dom for help.  
  
"I was just tickling him, Abbs, that's all," Dom attempted, stepping closer to his sister.  
  
"But, but, I saw you kiss too! Boys don't kiss boys!" The little girl was completely confused as she looked from Dom to Matt.  
  
"But they can, it's exactly the same as when a boy and a girl kiss," Matt said, deciding to just go with the truth for this part. He didn't like lying to the little girl.  
  
"Matt!" But Dom had other ideas. "You can't tell her-"  
  
"So what, are you boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asked, trying to make sense of why they would possibly kiss.  
  
"Um, not exactly," Matt said, unable to help but giggle. "More like boyfriend and boyfriend." Matt's eyes then instantly shot to Dom. Shit, he hadn't meant to let slip...they hadn't discussed yet what they even were to each other...they weren't really anything like that yet. Were they?  
  
Dom's eyes were bugging out of his head. Had Matt really just said what he'd thought he'd said?! Great, like he now needed anymore problems. He could feel the dark-haired boy's eyes on him, but refused to return the look, focusing his attention on his little sister instead.  
  
Abby, herself, stood gazing at both boys, her face having gone all serious as she studied them. After what felt like ages, she finally shrugged and delivered her verdict with a nod. "Okay, then. So is Dom the girl? I think he is, because he spends more time getting ready than Becca does."  
  
"Sorry, what?!" Dom asked, his mind suddenly off what Matt had said and the fact his five year-old sister had caught him jerking off another boy. Matt too, was also momentarily distracted as he burst out into his loud, high-pitched laughter.  
  
"What?" Abby asked, not understanding properly what she'd just said. "It's true he does!"  
  
"Shut up!" Dom grumbled at Matt and pushed the giggling boy over, only making him laugh even louder. "It's not that funny, seriously!" Dom whined angrily, but couldn't hide the small smile on his own lips, as he decided to start tickling Matt, remembering how he'd squirmed at school.  
  
"Okay, it's not that funny!" Matt yelled as he was at the mercy of Dom's tickling fingers. "You can stop, I'm sorry!" he laughed loudly, trying to bat off the other boy's assault, but also opening himself more up as a result.  
  
"Dom! You made Matt wet his pants!" Abby gasped, pulling her brother off of him, her childish innocence mistaking the cause of the stain on Matt's trousers.  
  
Now it was Dom's turn to laugh hysterically as Abby tried reassuring Matt, while he was left unable to explain the mark's true meaning, so had to be told it was okay and that it had happened to her a lot when she was a little younger.  
  
"But, but, I didn't," he tried, giving the madly cackling Dom a glare, while Abby petted his head sympathetically.  
  
"Don't worry, Matt. Everyone does it; my mummy always told me..."


	18. Chapter 18

  
"Matt!" Tom grinned and ran up to his skinny friend, Chris grinned and walked - more calmly - over too.  
  
"What's up, short fry?" he laughed as Matt raised an incredulous eyebrow, before Tom barrelled him over in a fierce hug, easily managing to lift the lighter boy up in the air.  
  
"Tom, watch it!" Matt shouted, struggling to break free, only to then be grabbed into a big bear hug by Chris. "You two are impossible!" he choked out, gasping for air, but neither were fooled; the big grin he couldn't hold back, giving him away.  
  
"Hey, we've missed you!" Tom laughed and poked Matt, once Chris had finally relinquished his hold on the squirming boy.  
  
"Feels like we haven't seen you in ages! And look, you've even gone and changed your hair!" Chris exclaimed, before playfully ruffling the spiky, pitch mess in question.  
  
"Yeah, you don't even really look like a girl anymore!" Tom joked, a big grin refusing to leave his face, much like the other two boys.  
  
"You two are just hilarious," Matt rolled his eyes, the smile still tugging at his lips though.  
  
"So, what's new, Matt?" Chris asked, spotting two figures approaching them.  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Is that that Dominic kid?!" Tom suddenly burst out, eyeing the two figures now too, the taller one sparking something within his foggy memory of Reading.  
  
"Um, well, you see--"  
  
"You're kidding me, Matt. Don't tell me you just--" Chris interrupted, only for the feisty boy to speak straight over him in turn.  
  
"I did, Chris. We, well, we made up, okay? Please, just be nice. I wanted to show him the band, plus he had to bring his little sister, his parents went away," Matt explained, a warning look in his eyes at his two old friends.  
  
"So what, are you two _friends_ now? Or are you..." Tom tried, openly staring at the blond and his sister, who had nearly reached the trio.  
  
"Um, it's...it's complicated? Just, please, don't embarrass me," Matt pleaded with them, making them raise their hands in surrender.  
  
"Fine, fine. Sheesh, no faith, eh, Chris?" Tom muttered and the taller boy just grunted in agreement.  
  
Just then, the little girl who'd been walking with Dominic spotted Matt and instantly let go of her big brother's hand to run up to the latest object of her fixation.  
  
"Matty! Matty!! Looook, look what Dommy got me!" she declared running at the raven-haired boy, a chocolate bar waving in her hand.  
  
Matthew just had enough time to look back at Dom, who continued to nervously walk up to the group of other boys. He shrugged nonchalantly at Matt's questioning glance, before the skinny boy was leapt on by the giggling blond girl and he had to stagger back to try not fall over at the impact, hands immediately shooting up to support her in his arms. After proudly showing off her chocolate to him, Abby suddenly became aware of the other two boys' presence, prompting her to instantly hide her face in the crook of Matt's neck.  
  
"And who's this then!" Chris grinned, winking at the little girl as she snuck a peek at him, before quickly burying her face in Matt's scarf again.  
  
"This," Matt laughed, bouncing Abby a bit. "Is Abby, Dom's little sister," he explained, the little girl's weight beginning to be too much for him, so he lightly put her back down on her feet, only for her to cling to his trouser leg. "She's a bit shy at first."  
  
"Hey, um, sorry we fell behind, Matt. Abby spotted the sweet store..." Dom explained with an apologetic shrug, before nervously glancing over at the other two boys. "I didn't want her to cause a scene, so I just figured I'd best give in. Um, I'm Dom by the way," he introduced himself, sticking his hand out awkwardly toward the other two.  
  
"Yeah, I understand, I have a little brother and he's pretty much the same," Chris nodded, his voice having gone a bit more cold though since addressing the little girl. "And we already know your name."  
  
"Y-you do?" Dom asked. Realising they weren't going to shake his hand, he let it fall to his side, looking over at Matt and wondering if he had perhaps told them about him.  
  
"Yeah, we met you at Reading," Tom replied, folding his arms across his chest. "But I guess you don't remember much from then?"  
  
"Um, uh, no...sorry," Dom replied honestly, his cheeks having flushed an embarrassed pink. Dammit, he really didn't want Matt's friends to now hate him too.  
  
"Um, yeah, well...let's go inside?" Matt suggested, looking from Dom to his two best friends and not wanting any unpleasantness to make itself known.  
  
"Ooh, yes, yes! I wanna see you play guitar, Matty!" Abby cheered, grabbing one of Matt's hands to tug it enthusiastically.  
  
"Well someone's full of energy!" Tom laughed taking in the sight. "But yeah, um, let's go in then."  
  
So the group all headed inside Tom's house and over to his older brother's room, which had been turned into a study/music room for him after Eric had moved off to university. His set of drums taking up most of the space. Tom still wasn't so keen on playing - plus if the others were honest, he wasn't very good either - but he'd gotten his parents to buy him a kit when Matt and Chris had wanted to all form a band. At the time he'd thought playing drums would be the easiest. He had been wrong, but kept it up because it at least allowed bonding time with his friends.  
  
"Wow, nice kit," Dom marvelled at the expensive piece of equipment, going a bit green with envy at the sight of it. He'd started playing drums a few years ago, but his parents had refused to get him a kit, so he'd had to practise on his teacher's set. He hadn't played now for at least a year.  
  
"Um, thanks," Tom replied with a shrug, still not too trusting of Dom. He couldn't forget that the seemingly sweet blond had hurt Matthew and even called him a faggot. Not cool.  
  
"But really, wow, it must be a dream to play!" Dom added, handing Matt his guitar case, which he'd been lugging for the smaller boy, so that he could get a closer look at the pricey instrument.  
  
"Yeah, Dom used to play," Matt explained to his friends, who were looking suspiciously at the blond as he walked around the kit, tapping the cymbals and dying to give it a play.  
  
"Oh, cool," Chris smiled, Matt having shot them a warning look when Dom wasn't looking. "Tom's parents never spare any expense on the spoilt brat!" he joked, instinctively shielding himself from Tom's responsive attack.  
  
"Please, you're just jealous that they love me more than yours do you, Wolstenholme!" he declared, giving Chris the predicted shove. The bigger boy didn't even budge, making just Tom growl in frustration.  
  
"You'll have to forgive them, they have a tendency to be a little wack," Matt grinned at Dom, as the other boy managed to part with the drums to come and rescue him from his little sister.  
  
"You're exactly the same, if not worse!" Tom shot back, currently struggling under the headlock Chris had gotten him in.  
  
"It's fine, and they do have a point," Dom smiled. Abby, refusing to let go of Matt, had simply just taken one of Dom's hands, while still clinging onto one of the dark-haired boy's. "Come on, Abby. We don't want to be in the way, remember we came to watch the practise," he tried, crouching down to be level with the little girl who just stuck her tongue out in reply.  
  
"Ooh, you cheeky thing, listen to your brother. I'll play with you afterwards?" Matt attempted to help out. "Tom and Chris are already being silly and causing a big enough distraction," he added, the other two boys having charged out the room. Chris after Tom, who'd given the taller boy's curly hair a good, hard pull.  
  
"Fine," she sighed. "But then we're gonna play lego when we get home," Matt nodded in the affirmative, while Dom sighed grumpily. Becca owed him _big time_. "Okay! Wanna see you play also, Matty! And Dom can play drums!"  
  
"Um, I don't know about that, Abbz," Dom said, looking back over at the drum kit which seemed to be calling his name.  
  
"Well, Tom won't mind. Why not show me something while the other two are fooling around? I'd love to hear you play something," Matt agreed, looking up at Dom with the same hopeful expression that was pasted on his little sister's face.  
  
"The two of you will be the death of me," he eventually sighed in defeat. Matt and his sister cheering and giggling together, only making him sigh even more. Matt should be discouraging the little pest, at this rate she'd never leave them alone!  
  
"Oh, Dom, you know you love us!" Matt teased, only to suddenly realise the possible implication of what he'd just said. Both boys went bright pink, no longer sure what to say.  
  
Luckily Abby didn't have that problem, the clueless fiver year-old happily agreeing, only to rediscover her chocolate bar and begin to open up the wrapper with little success.  
  
"Um, here, let me open it for you, love," Matt offered, taking the offered sweet, grateful for the distraction, while Dom coughed awkwardly and made his way over to the seat behind the impressive drum kit.  
  
While Dom was running his hands over the different pieces that made up the beautiful set, he heard a giggle from the other two. Looking up he saw that Abby had successfully managed to smear some melted chocolate on the side of Matt's mouth and he was pretending he needed her help to find it, the little girl laughing along and pointing at his nose and then left cheek instead, taking great delight in the game.  
  
"Oi, you two, I thought you wanted to listen to me play!" he called to them, the two looking up at him and swiftly ending their game when Matt's pink tongue peaked out from his lips to lick up the chocolatey smear. Dom's stomach may just have flipped lustfully at this. Just maybe.  
  
"So, what you waiting for?" Matt asked, a sneaky smile shamelessly plastered on his face when he took in where Dom's eyes were looking.  
  
"Er, um, yeah, yeah. Hold your horses..." So, suddenly feeling a bit under pressure to perform, Dom sat carefully down on the small seat in front of the drums, picking up the sticks which had been neatly placed atop it.  
  
While he gripped each stick and prepared himself, he couldn't help but find himself distracted once more. This time by the sight of Matt bending down to get his guitar out of its case, small, but pert, bum in the air.  
  
 _Whoa, sheesh. Since when do I like guys' arses?_  
  
Many things seemed to be changing for him, though, Dom thought, as he quickly pretended he hadn't been staring when the smaller boy stood up, guitar strap safely around him and guitar in his hands.  
  
"Oi, Dom, are you gonna play or not?" he asked, skew front tooth showing as he grinned at the flushed blond.  
  
"Yes!! What's taking so long, Dommy?!" Abby asked, pouting, as Matt plugged his guitar into an amp Tom had left nearby.  
  
"Should I maybe establish a beat or something? If I remember correctly, it's been a while since you last played, right?" Matt asked, smiling kindly at Dom, who had yet to make a move.  
  
"Er, yeah. Okay, thanks," he nodded, as Matt shot him another crooked-tooth grin, before tuning his guitar and then strumming the first few chords that came to mind.  
  
"Erm, do you know any Beatles? How about we start off with one of their songs to warm up?" Matt suggested, Dom nodding. "Do You Want to Know a Secret?"  
  
"Alright then, I'll try keep up..." Dom nodded nervously. Seesh, why was he suddenly so nervous? It was just Matthew and his stupid little sister!  
  
As Matt began to play the first couple notes, Dom took a deep breath. He could totally do this. Sadly, though, he missed his cue and Matt stopped to giggle and ask him if he should give him some sort of signal. Dom assured him he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Luckily he didn't.  
  
The easy, laid-back rhythm proved a fun choice to begin with and the fact that he didn't stuff up again, only helped boost Dom's confidence.  
  
Dom was so concentrated on keeping up his part, that when Matt began 'oooh-ing' along to get Abby to join in, he suddenly crashed back down to reality. He was playing, playing with Matt! Okay, it was a simple, sweet song...but... Wait. Why were they playing _this_ song?!  
  
Why had Matt chosen this - of all songs - to play?!  
  
His throat suddenly feeling a bit thick, Dom continued to play, but when Matt looked over to grin at him again, he felt suddenly squirmy inside and funny. What was the sneaky, little, raven-haired boy up to?  
  
He noticed Matt frown when he couldn't hold his gaze, but before the other boy could say anything, Chris and Tom chose that moment to saunter back into the room.  
  
"Oh, The Beatles, nice," Chris grinned, nodding his head along.  
  
Tom just shrugged though. If the blond was going to waltz in and help himself to his drum set, well then he'd have to prove himself. Wouldn't he? "So, _Dom_ , can you jam though, like improv?"  
  
"Er, yeah?" Dom replied, him and Matt having stopped playing. He could jam, sure. Okay, maybe he'd never done it with anyone other than himself playing, but... surely it would be easier now? He just didn't want to look a fool in front of two of the most important people to Matt; their opinion of him would mean a lot to the skinny, pixie of a boy.  
  
"Oh, great! I wanna join then," Chris grinned, playing things cautiously, but deciding to maybe give this Dom character a gap. So far he was proving himself a better person than the last they'd met. Plus it was impossible for Chris to ignore the way Matt kept sneaking little glances at the blond, a happy little smile on his face.  
  
.  .  .  
  
In the end, it turned out Dom could jam - pretty well in fact - all three boys having a blast and even leaving Tom impressed and unable to hide a grin, which matched the one on Abby's little face. It wasn't that hard, loads of fun really, all Dom had to do was attempt to avoid getting distracted by staring at Matt's fingers as they slid up and down frets. Wow, Matt had gorgeous, long, thin fingers, didn't he...  
  
"Dom? Oi, Earth to Dom?!"  
  
Shaking his head of shaggy, blond hair, Dom was brought back to the present; Matt and him riding home on the bus, little Abby fast asleep against his other side. He hadn't been about to let her steal the seat next to his...his whatever the fuck Matt and him were.  
  
"Oh, uh, sorry. Got a bit distracted," he replied sheepishly, looking back at the other boy who was sat by the window. "What was it you were saying?"  
  
Giggling at Dom's cute state of dopiness, Matt shrugged. "Um, just that I thought you were really good today. You played so well! And, when you went to the loo, the lads told me that you were 'alright', which, in their books, is brilliant! Chris even suggested you join the band in Tom's place! Tom didn't even seem to think it that bad an idea; they said you should come join band practice more often."  
  
"Really?" Dom asked, completely shocked. Chris and Tom actually liked him, even after their cool greeting towards him? _And_ they thought he should hang out again?  
  
"Ah-huh," Matt grinned, nodding. His bright blue eyes seemed to be glittering with so much pride and happiness, that, without even thinking, Dom found himself reaching out and putting his hand on top of Matt's left, which was resting between them.  
  
At the gesture, Dom's fingers now even lacing with Matt's, the raven-haired boy's smile grew impossibly wider.  
  
"Thank you." His voice was barely even a whisper, but the edge to it was impossibly sweet.  
  
"For what?" Dom asked, Matt then squeezing his hand.  
  
"You know what."  
  
The two then rode the rest of the way in silence, Matt's head resting on Dom's shoulder, their hands joined and Abby still curled against his other side.


	19. Chapter 19

  
After yet another emotionally tiring and challenging week at school, Matthew and Dominic had finally made it to Friday. Julia was still off in France with Dom's sister, Becca, so they'd had to spend the week avoiding Andy and the others alone at school, without Julia's sunny disposition to lighten their spirits.  
  
On the flip side of the coin, Dom's parents were back, so he was free at last of babysitting duties and Paul had finally bid Matt and their nan farewell, as he'd had to return home for work.  
  
So, at last, Friday had arrived, bringing with it a chance for the boys to finally have some time alone; without bothersome siblings or frustraitingly determined bullies.  
  
Matt's nan had announced she had plans for Bridge with the girls and so was more than pleased when he'd suggested he invite Dom over to keep him company. Surprisingly enough, Dom's parents had also agreed - hoping that he'd be a good influence on their 'wayward' son - so it was now that Matt found himself staring at his reflection through his nan's full-length mirror, while he waited for the blond's arrival.  
  
His hair was a disaster, the black spikes of all kinds of lengths standing up everywhere and refusing to be tamed; should he gel it maybe? Did he even _have_ gel? As for his face? A lost cause if ever there was one. And was that a zit he could see forming on his forehead? As if his terribly unfortunate nose and disastrously skew teeth weren't enough!  
  
Ugh and he was just so pale, Matt thought, fingers pulling at his cheeks. And so damn scrawny! He lifted his jersey and tee to look at his thin - practically concave - stomach and his ribs which were easily identifiable; he definitely looked in need of a few good meals. Yet he did eat well, he couldn't help that he just couldn't pick up weight... Ugh, and speaking of his jumper... He let the grey fabric fall back down and stared despondently at the way he literally drowned in it, his jeans, too, were just as baggy and unflattering.  
  
He needed to get some new clothes. He wanted to appear as desirable as he possibly was capable of for Dom in the very least, looking at himself now though? He didn't feel even vaguely...sexy...  
  
Usually he couldn't care less about what he wore or how he looked (perhaps the very reason for why he now found himself in this dilemma). He supposed his nerves and anxiety for his appearance most likely stemmed from the fact that he was still so uncertain about where he and Dominic stood. What were they now even to each other? Surely friends now in the least? But friends don't go down on one another or jerk each other off... They weren't really boyfriends either, though, were they? Despite what Abby had said.  
  
"Dammit, Dominic, why must you do this to me?" Matt sighed, looking back at his face once more, into his own blue eyes. "What are we going to do with you, Matthew? I'd have sworn you'd turned into a girl. It'll be fine. You look like this all the time anyway, if Dom had a problem with it, he wouldn't be about to arrive any minute now. So, breathe, you can do this!"  
  
 _Okay, wait. Why the fuck am I now speaking to myself?!_  
  
Shaking his head, Matt stepped away from the mirror and headed downstairs; and just in time too, for not even a minute later, there was a ring at the front door.  
  
 _Well here goes nothing..._  
  
Running a hand of long, bony fingers through his pitch hair one more time in the hope that it may do _something_ , Matt went over and opened the door.  
  
"Hi," he grinned, all his fear and nerves instantly melting away at the sight of the blond, overnight bag in hand.  
  
"Hey," Dom said, returning the smile, as he stepped through the threshold and Matt shut the front door behind him. Both boys then turned to look at one another, not quite certain if a hug or a kiss or even a fist bump hello was what the situation called for.  
  
"Er..." Matt began, bony fingers curling into the overlong sleeves of his jumper. He decided to just let Dom make the first move, still not sure if he'd scare him away by getting too familiar too soon.  
  
"Fuck it," Dom grumbled, dumping his bag on the ground and quickly closing the gap to envelope the smaller boy in his arms.  
  
It had been so long since they'd last been physical; the last time they'd hugged even had been Saturday, after he'd walked Matt home from the bus stop after the afternoon spent with Tom and Chris. The entire week they'd only been together at school; a huge no-no place to engage in anything that went beyond a normal platonic relationship between friends. Even then, he couldn't help notice, they were still judged.  
  
"Can I kiss you?" Matt asked, cheeks slightly flushing as he looked up at the blond under his dark lashes.  
  
Instead of answering vocally, Dom simply leaned down the small height difference and met Matt's lips in a sweet, long kiss. He was, at this point, far beyond rethinking anything about how good it felt to lock lips with the other boy; especially when that sneaky tongue of his stroked along Dom's fuller lips, before being allowed entrance.  
  
The two snogged hotly, tongues wrestling, as Dom's hands automatically fisted in the dark-haired boy's jumper, Matt's arms looping around his neck, bringing them even closer together.  
  
When it got to be too much and both were desperate for air, they eventually broke the kiss, panting somewhat.  
  
"Nan let me rent a DVD and said we could order pizza, how's that sound?" Matt asked, after they finally separated and he bent to pick up Dom's bag.  
  
"Good, of course," Dom nodded, his eyes more focused on Matt's mouth, when he smiled in turn, than he supposed was necessary. If he didn't say it now, he would probably chicken out.  
  
 _Come on, Dom. It's Matt, he won't judge, besides, it would only be fair. It'll be fine. Come on..._  
  
"Erm, I just, uh, thought, well... Let's do that a bit later..."  
  
At this, Matt raised a questioning eyebrow. Dom was clearly struggling to say something, that cute crease forming between his brows an obvious giveaway.  
  
"Like...?" Matt asked, a small little curve forming in the corner of his mouth when Dom stepped up to him again and took the bag from him with one hand, while the other wrapped around the dark-haired boy's skinny waist.  
  
"Well...er...I was wondering if, um, well, you know...?"  
  
Giggling a bit at the way Dom was still so stiff and struggled to say what was on his mind, Matt just took the hand Dom had wrapped around his waist and laced their fingers, before leading him upstairs and over to his bedroom.  
  
It was easy enough to guess what the blond had been struggling with, so Matt just figured he'd make things a little easier.  
  
When they reached his room, Matt shut the door behind Dom, as the other boy dumped his bag at the foot of Matt's comfy, big bed.  
  
"Well, wanna try tell me again then?" Matt suggested, still smiling mischievously, before the blond shook his head and just barrelled the smaller boy backwards onto the bed.  
  
"So cheeky all of a sudden!"  
  
Matt squealed and laughed, thrashing about as Dom attacked his sensitive sides in the mother of all tickle attacks, to the point where Matt began screaming that he'd pee on them both if he didn't stop, his eyes having even begun to water.  
  
Satisfied his work was done, Dom finally took mercy on him, only to then reach up and bring their lips together once more in a sloppy - and, on Matt's part, panted - kiss.  
  
His energy returning, Matt began to get more into the kiss, his hands reaching up to slide into Dom's short, blond locks and teeth nipping at his lush bottom lip. Dom couldn't help grinning into the kiss when the smaller boy even whined at one stage, the blond's left hand having snuck under his jumper to caress the silky skin of his stomach.  
  
Wanting more contact to his sensitive skin, Matt broke the kiss to yank his jersey and tee off in one go, throwing them haphazardly into a corner, before pulling Dom back down over him and sealing their lips once more. It was all Dom could do, but to follow instruction, rolling his tongue against Matt's, his hands back to roaming the, now completely bare, creamy flesh of the smaller boy's torso.  
  
 _Ask him, Dom. Ask him now. Ain't no time like the present after all. Don't be a coward._  
  
Pulling out of the kiss, Matt's teeth still tugging his bottom lip as he whined at the loss, Dom attempted to grow a pair and spit out his request already. If he could have seen himself - about to ask what he was going to - a few months ago, he would never have believed it possible.  
  
"Matt," he panted, his weight supported on his forearms as he balanced above the other boy.  
  
"Dom?" Matt asked, his eyes reflecting the same hungry glaze as Dom's own, his lips moist from their frantic snogging. Dom could feel the heat pooling at around about Matt's groin, the unmistakable bulge there pushing against his upper thigh and matching the same arousal he could feel in his own trousers.  
  
So much had changed. Dom had changed, his mind had been opened and altered forever, along with his expanded consciousness. He wasn't afraid. He was...excited. Eager. Happy.  
  
When last had he even been happy; _truly_ happy? He couldn't remember. Looking down at the skinny boy lying beneath him now, though, his pretty blue eyes sparkling up at the blond, skew tooth showing as he smiled confusedly, Dom knew that _this_ was happiness and he had nothing to be embarrassed about.  
  
"C-can I, er, um...can-can I...well..."  
  
"Can you what, Dom?" Matt smiled, reaching a hand up to brush aside the strand of hair hanging in one of Dom's eyes as he leaned over.  
  
"Wanna...wanna try-- C-can I go down on you?" Dom finally managed, his cheeks burning bright pink, but his shoulders feeling like a massive weight had just been lifted. He'd actually managed to say it.  
  
Somewhat caught off guard, Matt's eyes bugged wide and he felt his heart rate pick up, his cock most definitely responding in kind too.  
  
"Er...y-you sure that's what you w-want? I don't wanna force you into anyth--"  
  
"Yes, of course it is." And, to prove a point, Dom gave Matt's confused lips a quick peck, before moving down his body. He then joined the tips of his index fingers and thumbs to form a diamond, before framing Matt through his loose-fitting jeans and proceeding to nuzzle the now isolated bulge. "Wanna do it. Will you let me?"  
  
When Matt didn't immediately respond, Dom looked up to find the raven haired boy had closed his eyes, but when they opened his pupils had blown wide.  
  
"Y-yes, yes of course. Fuck, Dom. You can't even know what that means to me..."  
  
"Well, don't get too excited now, Bellamy. My cocksucking career is only just beginning, I don't really know the first thing about it!" Dom said, trying to lighten the atmosphere and was rewarded with a giggling Matt.  
  
"Fair enough... I know, um, well, why don't I guide you through it?" Matt suggested, having scooted into a sitting position in front of the blond. At Dom's brow furrow he added, "I mean, we can 69? It can be quite fun with a guy, I mean we both ha--"  
  
"Wait a second, did you - sweet, unassuming, nice-guy Matt Bellamy - just suggest we 69?!" Dom asked, his face over exaggerating his shock and surprise, with his eyebrows up to his hairline and mouth hanging wide open; he even threw in some gasping for added effect. This, of course, resulted in Matt rolling around and giggling madly on the bed.  
  
Inside though, Dom felt like a whole sanctuary of butterflies had been let loose in his stomach. 69, and with another bloke? Wow...okay...well... Hey, why just try one new thing a day?  
  
"So? What you say? Of course we don't have to... Just thought it may be--"  
  
"Yeah, let's do it," Dom interrupted, his smile growing at the sight of Matt's mouth forming a monster grin, skew teeth and all.  
  
"Well, let's strip then?" Matt suggested, a pointed glance in the direction of Dom's jumper, highlighting the fact he was still completely dressed.  
  
So, without another word, both boys got up and hurriedly shed their clothing; shoes, boxers and all, nerves and the thrill of it all speeding them up.  
  
Once they were both naked, they sat back down on the bed and turned to each other; faces a bit flushed and timid smiles present.  
  
"So."  
  
"So..."  
  
 _Oh, come on, you're both past this stage, you're just being silly now!_  
  
"Quit being awkward?" Matt suggested, trying his best not to look down in the direction of Dom's crotch, the temptation great. Hey, soon enough that would be all he'd be able to see, after all...  
  
"Agreed," Dom nodded, once more grateful that this was Matt he was about to do this with. There was no need to be uncomfortable. He trusted the other boy.  
  
Smiling, Matt decided to make the first move and joined their lips again, trying to get them both settled. After a good few minutes of just stroking tongues and locking lips, careful hands clutching at bare shoulders, Dom eventually pulled out to nod.  
  
"Alrighty then," Matt grinned and suddenly Dom found himself lying on his side, with his head towards the end of the bed, his face smack-bang in front of Matt's crotch. The raven haired boy of course found himself in a similar position, but with his head in the opposite direction.  
  
"Wow, okay, hello there," Dom said, not quite thinking, his eyes glued to the sight of the other boy's thick, ridged erection, the darkened head mere inches from him.  
  
"Dom, did you just address my knob?" Matt cackled, making Dom so pink he felt even his ears burning.  
  
"Shut up..." he muttered, before his whole body suddenly stiffened as Matt lifted his hand to stroke down Dom's side, before resting on the jut of his hipbone.  
  
"Relax, Dom. We can always stop if you don't want this? And don't worry, I can still blow you, of course, I don't mind." And there he was again; selfless Matt, forever worrying about others, not a hint of selfishness to be found. Dom felt his stomach clench. No. He had to do this; he wanted to do this. He wanted to pleasure Matt; give back after all the other boy had done for him.  
  
So, taking a deep breath, Dom inched forward and cautiously stuck his pink tongue out, allowing just the tip to make quick contact with the tip of Matt's cock. Matt's reaction was instant, his small body shivering slightly with pleasure and want; encouraging Dom to repeat the action.  
  
"Oh God, Dom," Matt groaned happily, toes curling, as the blond chose to now use the flat of his tongue to drag a stripe up along the bottom of his cock.  
  
His confidence and excitement growing at Matt's responses, and the realisation that it wasn't _that_ bad after all, Dom took another deep breath and sucked the head of the dark haired boy's cock into his mouth. Matt mewled like a kitten, his hands clutching the backs of Dom's thighs as he tried to resist pushing forward into the rest of the welcoming heat of the blond's mouth.  
  
Dom nearly did indeed swallow a whole lot more of the other boy's cock anyway, though, when Matt suddenly acted and took him now into his own mouth too. The sudden sensation of the other boy's hot, wet mouth wrapped around him, as he himself had his own mouth around Matt's cock, came as quite a thrilling shock.  
  
Never had he envisioned ever enjoying such a thing, yet now that he found himself experiencing it, he knew he'd never look back again. Although challenging to keep his concentration on now mimicking the smaller boy's actions, it certainly helped to give him rhythm and an idea of what to do. Granted, though, he would certainly need a lot more practise to improve his technique; his beginner movements more clumsy and awkward than Matthew's. Judging by the muffled whimpers around his own dick, though, Matthew certainly didn't seem to mind.  
  
Experiencing the strange new feeling of the weight and heat of someone's cock in his mouth, as well as another's most intimate scent, was a heady experience indeed; one that Dom knew he could easily get used to, surprisingly enough.  
  
Following the glorious way Matt used his tongue to trace the ridge of his cockhead, he did the same, halting when his tongue swiped over a slight nub at the bottom, which made the dark-haired boy almost swallow his cock this time round. The jolt of his small body and sharp intake of breath and high-pitched little whimper, indications that he'd found a particular hot spot of the other boy's.  
  
Smiling to himself, Dom then proceeded to target the spot, pushing the tip of his tongue persistently against the small bump and making Matt writhe and whimper, his own mouth reflexively taking in more of Dom's cock. Now this was fun, Dom thought, his eyes rolling back a bit as he felt his own cockhead hit the back of Matt's throat.  
  
The smaller boy clearly seemed to think so too as, trying to pull himself together, he went back to focusing properly on his own task at hand; attempting to take in as much of Dom's lovely hot dick as he could. Both boys now getting rather close.  
  
As he felt Matt's nose nearly buried into the thatch of dark, blond hair at the base of his cock, his slick, wet tongue applying even more delicious pressure, Dom felt suddenly more daring. He didn't know why exactly, but reasoned the unbelievable pleasure that Matt was providing, which was curling his toes and tingling at his brain, may have helped coax him into it.  
  
Matt couldn't deny the disappointment he felt then when Dom's mouth withdrew from his cock, but reasoned that perhaps the other boy's jaw had gotten too sore - his own was sure aching a bit now - or that perhaps he was worried about the act of Matt actually coming in his mouth; things the dark-haired boy would never hold against the blond. He just felt giddy as it was, that the other boy had actually given any of it ago; not to mention the fact that he'd actually initiated it.  
  
He, therefore, nearly shot off the bed when Dom suddenly lapped at one of his balls, tongue lathing over the silken skin and barely there hair, before he simply proceeded to just suck it into his hot, wet mouth. The resulting high-pitched squeak turned whine, made Dom smile, his right hand moving to clutch at one of Matt's arse cheeks, the left pumping his positively oozing cock.  
  
Feeling the building and nearly overflowing of heat in his lower belly, Matt knew he was getting extremely close, but was determined to get the blond off first. He formed a tighter seal with his mouth and began to suck in earnest, body shuddering every now and again when - having sucked Matt's other ball into his mouth now too - Dom would suck and knead him with his tongue.  
  
Matt, still pumping the base of Dom's pulsing cock, while he continued to suck and lick like his life depended on it, then ran his tongue swiftly into the other boy's slit, just as he corkscrewed his fist and squeezed tightly. He wasn't too surprised then of course when Dom halted in his own actions to break away and groan loudly as he came, shooting hotly down Matt's willing throat.  
  
Dom then panting and breathing noisily as he came down, Matt tried to move away, resigning himself to finishing himself off, not that he really minded much, as he didn't expect the clearly breathless blond to help out; it just meant that he'd done a superb job of giving head. To his surprise, though, Dom's hands were quick to hold him still and in place by the hips.  
  
"Oi, where... do you think... you're off to?" he panted, moving one hand to grab Matt by his cock, making the smaller boy hiss. His cock was positively throbbing and the other boy's touch was doing his head in. He needed release and he needed it _now._  
  
"I-I t-thought, well, er..."  
  
"Hush," Dom chuckled, looking up the length of Matt's trembling, skinny body to his brightly blushing face, his chest and throat even flushed. "Lemme do it."  
  
On the outside he appeared calm and cool, but on the inside, Dom's body and mind were in a turmoil of nerves and second guesses. He was worried he'd make a fool of himself or regret doing what he was about to. What if he hated it and couldn't hide his expression quick enough?? He didn't want to hurt Matt and he knew that, no matter how hard the other boy tried to hide it, deep down he was definitely sensitive.  
  
Matt was completely oblivious to Dom's little internal struggle, however, as he then watched Dom move down his body and once more take his cock into his tight, wet mouth. This time, though, Matt could see down his thin, heaving chest, at the way Dom's head of messy, short, blond hair bobbed between his now spread thighs as he lay on his back.  
  
"O-oh God, D-Dom," he moaned, hands automatically fisting in the mop of blond hair.  
  
Surprisingly enjoying the rough tugging, Dom sped up his sucks, using his left hand to squeeze and tug the base of Matt's thick, long cock, while his right fondled his still, very much damp balls. The feel of the weight of them in Dom's palm strangely reassuring as he massaged them with his thumb.  
  
Matt was practically gurgling in his throat at this point, eyes rolling back and words escaping him as his hips instinctively #undulated# with Dom's sucks and pulls.  
  
The strong pulsing of Matt's cock and the way his balls seemed to tighten in Dom's hold, let on to the fact that Matt was about to come. But if that wasn't enough, the dark-haired boy then began to tug harder on Dom's hair.  
  
"Gon-gonna c-come, D-Dom." He tried pulling Dom's mouth off of him, thinking the blond would be horrified if he did actually come in his mouth, but Dom just batted his hands away, letting go of Matt to instead now hold him down by his hips in preparation. "Oh, _fuuuuck._ "  
  
It was all just too much for the smaller of the two and he couldn't hold on any longer, finally letting go to the burning white heat inside of him, his eyes rolling back then as he did indeed come in Dom's mouth.  
  
The blond, despite being prepared, was still surprised by the strong force with which Matt shot his load, so ended up spluttering and coughing on the white, creamy liquid invading his mouth. The foreign taste was strange, with a salty tinge, but Dom did his best to take in as much as he could. After all, if Matt could do it, why couldn't he? And, if he was honest, it wasn't all that awful really...  
  
When he was satisfied that he'd gotten the most of it, Dom pulled away and swallowed, shuddering slightly with a shake of his head, before a giant grin took over his face then when he looked down at Matt's thoroughly satisfied and completely dopey expression.  
  
Suddenly it was all worth it and Dom felt even more satisfied than he ever had after an orgasm. He was proud that he'd taken the plunge and chuffed with the way he'd managed to pull it off, the warm fuzziness he felt when two lazy blue eyes blinked up dreamily at him, all the proof in the world.  
  
"F-fuck, Dom. Y-you're amazing," Matt panted, scrawny chest still rising and falling rapidly as his skew teeth broke out into a smile to match the wide grin on the blond's face.  
  
"Says you! Pssht," Dom laughed, leaning down to peck Matt's own swollen, shiny lips.  
  
"Missed a spot!" the dark-haired boy giggled, reaching out a long finger to wipe away a drop of cum in the corner of the blond's mouth, making Dom flush bright pink.  
  
"Well, you did spurt like a fire hose after all, I can't really be blamed," Dom shot back, Matt's own cheeks now flushing too.  
  
"It's not my fault you give head like a champion. Could've sworn you weren't green!"  
  
"Funny," Dom muttered, poking one of Matt's sensitive sides, making the smaller boy jump, both their bodies still on high alert after their blissful orgasms.  
  
"Meanie," Matt pouted, only for Dom to coo and then scoop him up in his arms for a giant cuddle and snog fest.  
  
When they eventually broke apart to breathe properly again, Matt now straddling Dom's lap, the blond clutching his bum, they stared back at each other with their foreheads pressed together. Their eyes were warm and both were struggling to control the silly grins on their faces.  
  
"I can't believe we just did that. I can't believe you just did that for me. Thank you so much, Dom. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Matt giggled deliriously, pecking Dom's plumped up pink lips on every 'thank you'.  
  
"I can't believe it took me so long. I'm so sorry," he apologised, kissing Matt on the tip of his adorably wonky nose.  
  
Still giggling, Matt shook his head, "Nonsense, you needed to feel comfortable. I'm glad we waited and you gave it a shot."  
  
Another noisily wet snogging session later and the two broke apart, stomachs growling hungrily.  
  
"Shall we order pizza then?" Matt suggested, that smile still lingering on his lips. He felt absolutely punch drunk happy.  
  
"Let's," Dom agreed with an enthusiastic nod, hopping off the bed and onto his feet, only to wobble unsteadily. "Whoa."  
  
Matt joining him also felt unstable and wobbly. "I feel like I'm a noodle!" he declared very officially, only for both boys to dissolve into giggles on the floor.  
  
"Come on then, we should put some pants on and get some food going, else I'll have to eat your toes!" Dom said once they'd recovered, slowly getting back onto his feet.  
  
At his words, however, Matt let out a high-pitched squeal and leapt to his feet, before charging out the room and down the passage, his bare, little bum the last thing Dom saw, making the blond succumb to yet more hysterical giggles.  
  
"Matthew!!" he yelled, charging after the other boy, laughing away, his own nakedness momentarily forgotten.  
  
"Stay away! They're my toes!!" carried over to him as he sprinted down the stairs, hot on the heels of his fellow streaker.  
  
"Never!!"  
  
Squealing and giggling away, Matt was fairly easily captured, Dom managing to scoop him straight off the floor before promptly collapsing on the soft, fuzzy comfort of the living room rug.  
  
"Got ya!" he declared, laughing away evilly as he nabbed Matt's madly kicking feet and began to attack his toes in the mother of all tickles. The dark-haired boy was reduced to a squirming and writhing mess of limbs, helpless to Dom's assault on his extra sensitive feet.  
  
"Mercy! Mercy!! DOM!!"  
  
Taking pity at last, Dom finally stopped, grinning down at a heavily breathing, panting Matt, whose eyes were even running after the unbearably ticklish attack.  
  
"P-prick," he managed to wheeze, before both boys giggled some more. "Also, I can see your cock, you know," Matt then pointed out, nudging his head in its direction, where it was flopped on Dom's upper thigh.  
  
"It's only fair, considering I can see yours," Dom chuckled, giving Matt's, which was lying on his flat lower tummy, a flick from his position atop his skinny thighs.  
  
"OWW!! Dammit, Dom!" Matt whined, before Dom just pulled him into some more kisses, making him quickly forget his smarting member.  
  
When they could eventually bare breaking apart, Matt at last located his mobile and placed a call ordering them both pizza (a simple yet double cheese margarita for Dom and a regina with added banana for himself), while Dom hunted down their clothes and got dressed at last, pulling faces at Matt the entire time the other boy giggled out their orders.  
  
With the confirmation that their pizzas would be over shortly, Matt decided it would probably be best to get a bit decent himself now. Of course Dom couldn't resist wacking his bum again as he was bent over, one foot in his boxer shorts already, causing him to jump and end up on the floor with his bare arse in the air and legs caught up in his underwear.  
  
"Oh my God, Dom!! You wanker!!"  
  
"Sorry, couldn't help it, you really have such a cute little bum," Dom defended, scratching the back of his neck self-consciously, before chuckling at the bright pink colour Matt had turned.  
  
Matt then quickly scuttled into his boxers and pants, hunting down his tee and a pair of socks last. "Gotta protect my toes from you," was his defense when Dom giggled as he pulled on another, thicker pair over the first.  
  
"Ha! We'll see if it works then!" Dom declared with his attempt at a super-villain-esc laugh, before chasing Matt down the stairs once more, only for Matt to slip on one of the last stairs and land vulnerable and prone on his arse. "Shit, you okay?" Dom asked, scooting down the stairs to reach his friend's side.  
  
"Yeah, don't worry," Matt laughed, shaking his head as he sat up a bit to rub his bum.  
  
"Good, then my attack can commence!!"  
  
The sounds of squeals, screaming and hysterical laughter reined supreme in the house then as the two rolled around on the floor, Dom tickling Matt senseless and the later giving as good as he could manage back.  
  
They only broke apart when the doorbell rang out over their noisy wrestling.  
  
"Ooh, the pizza!" Matt popped up, freed from Dom's grasp, his messy, black hair sticking up in every direction crazily, hit t-shirt and jumper hiked up and hanging off his left shoulder.  
  
"Well, best you go and get it then," Dom giggled, playfully shoving the smaller boy, his own clothing and hair equally messed up, a few scratch marks even appearing on the exposed skin of his abdomen where Matt had squirmed in reflex.  
  
"What am I, your servant?" Matt jokingly huffed, getting to his feet, one sock left on his one foot and the other two socks hanging on by his other foot's toes.  
  
"Nope, not at all. You're my slave! My sex slave," Dom joked, wiggling his eyebrows and laughing loudly. Before Matt could reply, his cheeks a rosy colour, the doorbell sounded again. "Best you get it, Matt."  
  
"Fine, fine, fine." And with that Matt spun on his heel and marched off to go get the food, paying with the cash his nan had left on the entrance hall table for him.  
  
.  .  .  
  
"I feel like I'm gonna turn into a pizza," Dom moaned a while later, the two boys slumped on the floor with their backs against the sofa, The Matrix playing out on the telly and two empty pizza boxes out in front of them.  
  
"Fuck that, I feel like I'm gonna give birth to a pizza," Matt groaned, clutching his full belly through his jersey and tee.  
  
"Give birth? Aww, you're gonna be a mummy to pizza babies!" Dom cooed, crawling over to pull Matt's layers up, the smaller boy puffing his stomach up some more in response, playing along. Laughing, Dom rubbed his hand over the small swell of Matt's full tummy, as one would a pregnant woman's. "I dare say there may be twins in here!"  
  
"It sure fucking feels like it!" Matt laughed, stomach briefly deflating as he laughed loudly.  
  
"Have you thought of any names?" Dom asked, Matt now holding his clothing out the way as Dom put his ear to his stomach, hands still cradling it.  
  
"Hmm, how about Banana and Cheese?"  
  
This of course led to Dom tickling Matt's bloated tummy at his ridiculous answer, both boys laughing loudly.  
  
"Oh my God, Dom! Stahp!! I'm gonna burst!!"  
  
.  .  .  
  
A few hours later and only a mutual masturbation session as they'd changed into their pyjamas, as well as a messy toothpaste snogging break in between, and the two were curled up in Matt's comfy big bed.  
  
They chatted about random and meaningless things, snuggled up together, Matt cupping Dom's jaw with his right hand and Dom Matt's hip with his left.  
  
"So, when did you say your nan was due back home again?" Dom asked after a while, yawning slightly, toes wiggling with Matt's socked ones.  
  
"Hmm, I don't know, she should've probably been home a while ago, but sometimes she stays at her friend Viv's when she's had too much to drive back. Which happens more than you'd think," Matt replied, prompting Dom to giggle, Matt quick to join in. "She probably sent a text, I just can't be arsed to get up and look now."  
  
"Here, I'll get your mobile for you," Dom smiled, getting up and making Matt whine softly to himself. He'd meant he hadn't wanted to break up their little snuggle, but Dom, wanting to just make Matt as happy as he felt the other boy made him, was eager to help out.  
  
When the blond got up to lean over him though, to get his mobile which lay on his bedside table, he gave Matt a delicious view of his lightly tan tummy as his top rode up while he reached over.  
  
Dom nearly dropped the phone when his hands finally got to it, because Matt had chosen that moment to stretch up and kiss the soft skin of his tummy, causing his cheeks to heat up.  
  
"I-I, er, got it," he mumbled when he lay back down, handing Matt his cell phone.  
  
"Thanks." Matt then hastily checked it to see that there was indeed a text from his nan to say she'd be staying at Viv's and that she hoped he was having fun.  
  
"She text?" Dom asked, taking the offered phone and putting it back, before snuggling back down into the covers, unthinkingly throwing an arm over Matt's middle.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, she did," Matt grinned, cuddling up more into Dom. "She is staying at Viv's, so all's good."  
  
"Oh, that's good," Dom yawned, Matt shortly echoing him. Both were knackered after a tough week of avoiding bullies and then an evening of more action than either had seen in a while.  
  
"Sleepy?" Matt asked, just as he stifled another yawn.  
  
"Yup," Dom nodded, dopily grinning at Matt giving into his yawn, warm air puffing back at the blond.  
  
"Good night then, Dommy," Matt murmured, snuggling into the warmth of Dom's body, his socked feet tangling with the other boy's.  
  
"G'night, Matty," Dom smiled sleepily, mirroring using a nickname, as he nestled his face against Matt's soft mop of inky hair.  
  
Just as he felt his eyes beginning to droop shut, Matt spoke again.  
  
"Thank you, by the way. You know, for this evening. For everything. It's good not to be alone anymore and better for it to be because of you," came his sleepy voice, barely loud enough to be heard, as he pecked t-shirt-clad chest.  
  
"Thank you, too, Matt. I feel exactly the same," he hummed, dropping a kiss in his shampoo scented locks.  
  
And as Dom closed his eyes properly and felt sleep slowly take hold, he knew he'd never felt so warm with joy and happiness on the inside as he did then.  
  



End file.
